From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

=====

Sam Simms (Sinbad) is a Secret Service agent assigned by his superior Wilkes (Robert Guillaume) to protect President Paul Davenport's (James Naughton) rebellious 13-year-old son Luke Davenport (Brock Pierce) after Luke's behavior causes another agent Woods (Timothy Busfield) to be replaced for mistreating Luke in front of media cameras. Woods is later fired because of this mistreatment and for failing his physical. Simms sees this assignment as undesirable, but a possible stepping stone to protecting the President. He fails to connect with the boy at first, and Luke continues to misbehave, including an incident where he releases his pet snake Poison into a White House party. After seeing Luke get beat up by the school bully Rob (Zachery Ty Bryan), his parents punished him for the fight, even though he didn't start the fight. Because of the re-election, they can't risk Luke going out of public for a month while his parents are on the campaign trail. Simms feels sorry for him - he had felt alone as a teenager, too (losing his father in Vietnam while his mother worked 2-3 jobs to financially support him) - and they become friends. Simms, a former boxer, agrees to sneak Luke out against the wishes of the chief of security Morton (Art LaFleur) and teach him how to fight. Meanwhile, Luke agonizes over asking the cutest girl, Katie (Erin Williby), to the school dance, which he finally does successfully with Simms's help. On the night of the dance, a duffle bag is left outside of the White House and Luke is not allowed to go due to the security risk, even though his parents gave him permission. Simms breaking the rules again takes Luke to the dance. There, Rob tries to attack Luke again while Simms is distracted, but this time Luke puts him down. After that, Secret Service agents bust the school dance and retrieve Luke. Simms is fired and not allowed to speak with Luke, who is crushed that his friend has apparently "abandoned" him. Luke, under house arrest and with a homing device attached to him, receives advice from an online friend, Mongoose12, on how to escape the White House and meet him at a local mall. Luke agrees, but it is revealed that Mongoose12 was in fact former agent Woods, who abducts him. When Luke goes missing, Simms is given another chance to protect him. With the help of his friend Harold (a paraplegic who owns a spy shop), he quickly tracks Luke to the mall. In a standoff, Woods says he was originally planning on returning Luke to the President so he could be a hero and get his job back, but now he wants to kill him instead. He blames Luke for making him lose his job, and even his wife. Woods tries to shoot Simms, but he takes cover and once Woods is out of bullets, Simms brings him down with a right uppercut. As other agents arrive, Woods tries to shoot Luke with a back-up revolver but Simms jumps in front of Luke, causing him to take the intended bullet in his arm. Woods is also shot, subdued, and arrested by other arriving Secret Service agents for abduction, assault, and attempted murder. In the final scene of the film, Simms is offered Presidential duty which he declines in order to stay with Luke full time, so he can also spend more time with Luke's biology teacher, with whom he has formed a romantic relationship. Luke is relieved of his last punishment, and while playing street hockey with friends, hits Simms in the forehead with the puck, resulting a chase-off between Simms and Luke. 

=====

Illustration for "The Monkey's Paw" from Jacobs' short story collection The Lady of the Barge (1902) The short story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son, Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris, a friend who served with the British Army in India, comes by for dinner and introduces them to a mummified monkey's paw. An old fakir placed a spell on the paw, so that it would grant three wishes but only with hellish consequences as punishment for tampering with fate. Morris, having had a horrible experience using the paw, throws it into the fire. Mr. White, not believing Morris, retrieves it. Before leaving, Morris warns Mr. White that should he use the paw, he might as well be digging his own grave. At Herbert's suggestion, Mr. White flippantly wishes for £200 (the equivalent of over £24,000 in 2020), which will enable him to make the final mortgage payment for his house. When he makes his wish, Mr. White suddenly drops the paw in surprise, claiming that it moved and twisted like a snake. The next day, Herbert leaves for work at a local factory. A few minutes later an employee arrives at the Whites's home, pronouncing that Herbert has been killed in a terrible machine accident, mutilating his body. Although the company denies responsibility for the incident, the firm has decided to make a goodwill payment to the family of the deceased. The payment is £200, the amount Mr. White had wished for. A week after the funeral, Mrs. White, mad with grief, insists that her husband use the paw to wish Herbert back to life. Reluctantly, he does so, despite remembering a premonition he had of summoning his son's mutilated and decomposing body. An hour or so later—the cemetery being two miles away—there is a knock at the door. As Mrs. White fumbles at the locks in a desperate attempt to open the door, Mr. White becomes terrified and fears "the thing outside" is not the son he loved. He makes his third wish. The knocking stops suddenly and Mrs. White opens the door to find no one is there. 

=====

Sir Oliver Tressilian lives at the estate of Penarrow with his brother, Lionel. Oliver is betrothed to Rosamund Godolphin, whose hot-headed brother, Peter, detests the Tressilians due to an old feud between their fathers. Peter and Rosamund's guardian, Sir John Killigrew, also has little love for the Tressilians. Peter's manipulations drive Oliver into a duel with Sir John. The scheme backfires: Sir John is seriously wounded, further stoking Peter's hatred. Peter attempts to bait Oliver into a violent confrontation, but Oliver is mindful of Rosamund's warning never to meet her brother in an affair of honor. One evening, Lionel returns home, bloodied and exhausted. He has killed Peter in a duel, but there were no witnesses. Oliver is widely believed to be Peter's killer, and Lionel does nothing to disprove the accusations. To avoid repercussions for Peter's death, Lionel has Oliver kidnapped and sold into slavery to ensure that he never reveals the truth. En route to the New World, the slave ship is boarded by the Spanish, and her crew are added to the slaves. For six months Oliver toils at the oars of a Spanish galley. He befriends a Moorish slave, Yusuf-ben-Moktar. Oliver, Yusuf and the other slaves are freed when the galley is boarded by Muslim corsairs. They offer to fight for the Muslims. Oliver's fighting skills and the testimony of Yusuf, the nephew of the Basha of Algiers, grants Oliver special privileges in Muslim society. He becomes a corsair known as Sakr-el-Bahr, "the Hawk of the Sea". In this new role, Oliver rescues English slaves by purchasing them himself and releasing them in Italy. Oliver captures a Spanish vessel and discovers his one-time kidnapper, Jasper Leigh, as a slave at the oars. He gives Jasper the opportunity to convert to Islam and join his corsairs. With Jasper's navigational skills, Sakr-el-Bahr sets sail for England to take revenge on Lionel. Lionel has taken possession of Penarrow. He is now betrothed to Rosamund, who believes that Oliver murdered her brother. Sakr-el- Bahr carries them off to Algiers to be sold as slaves. The Basha sees Rosamund in the market and becomes infatuated with her, planning to buy her for himself. However, he does not have enough ready cash to meet the high bid, and Sakr-el-Bahr wins her instead. The Basha threatens to take her by force, but Sakr-el-Bahr marries her, foiling the Basha's efforts. He also buys Lionel and tricks him into revealing to Rosamund the truth about Peter's death. Rosamund is horrified at Lionel's lies and treachery, calls him a coward, and dismisses him from her, before Sakr-el-Bahr condemns him to serve as a rower in his own galley. Sir Oliver realizes how strong his guilt must have appeared to Rosamund, and loses his hatred for her. Sakr-el-Bahr's refusal to sell Rosamund to the Basha infuriates the Basha, and the Basha threatens to have her carried off in spite of their hasty marriage. Seeing the danger into which he has brought Rosamund by carrying her to Algiers, Oliver regrets having abducted her. He begins to realize that he still loves her, and vows to return her safely to Europe with her honor intact, at the cost of his life, if necessary. To this end, he smuggles her aboard his galley, but is dismayed to find that the Basha, goaded into mistrust of Sakr-el-Bahr by his son and wife, and still consumed with desire for Rosamund, has resolved to accompany him on his next mission: an attempt to capture a Spanish treasure ship rumored to be passing from Spain to Italy. Less than a day into the voyage, Rosamund's hiding place on the galley is discovered by the Basha's scheming son, Marzak. The Basha again attempts to take her by force, but Sakr-el-Bahr threatens mutiny, and it is clear that the crew would be equally divided between Sakr- el-Bahr and the Basha. Neither leader is willing to risk his goals on the hazard of an open conflict, and an uneasy stalemate results as the galley reaches its ambuscade and waits for the Spanish treasure ship to pass. Sir Oliver's protection of her in the face of what she believes to be certain death begins to reawaken Rosamund's respect and trust of him. Unexpectedly, the first ship they sight is an English ship bearing a pennant which Oliver and Rosamund recognize as belonging to Sir John Killegrew—Sir John has sworn an oath to rescue Lionel and Rosamund, and to hang Sakr-el-Bahr. Not realizing the proximity of the corsair, Sir John's ship comes to anchor just round the point from the hidden galley. Sir Oliver sees his chance to return Rosamund to safety, and at dusk contrives to have Lionel thrown overboard, ostensibly for insubordination, but in reality giving him secret instructions to swim round the point in the dark with a message for Sir John. Lionel reaches Sir John, and the English attempt to attack the corsairs, but the wind is very light and the Moorish galley, using her oars, is able to travel much faster than the English sailing ship. Oliver sees that they will surely escape the English ship, and hijacks command of the galley by threatening to detonate the open powder magazine with his torch. He compels the galley to allow the English ship to come alongside. The English crew boards the galley, and in an abortive fight, Lionel, who was first to board the galley, receives a pike thrust through the body from one of the Moors. Sakr-el-Bahr compels both sides to cease fighting, and negotiates a truce—he will surrender himself to Sir John, on the condition that the Moors will allow Rosamund to leave with the English, and that the English will allow the Moors to leave without further molesting them. The Basha, caught in a trap, outgunned, and furious at Sakr-el-Bahr's mutinies, is happy to give him to the English, deeming they will hang him. Sir John is content to let the Basha depart as long as Rosamund and Sir Oliver are in his custody, and the truce is agreed upon. The Basha's galley departs; Sakr-el-Bahr is flung into the hold, and told to prepare himself for execution. Rosamund, seeing Sir Oliver about to sacrifice his life to ensure her safety, realizes that she still loves him. In the cabin of the English ship, Sir John is told that Lionel is mortally wounded and will likely never recover consciousness. Sir John; Lord Henry Goade, Queen's Lieutenant of Cornwall; and the other officers of the ship form a tribunal to pass judgment on Sir Oliver before hanging him. To their surprise and dismay, Rosamund defends him fiercely, telling them the true story of what happened. They at first believe her to be mad, and then later to be deliberately lying to cover up the man who they say has bewitched her, until word comes that Lionel has recovered consciousness and is asking for his brother. Lionel makes a full confession in the presence of the tribunal, and asks Sir Oliver to forgive him. Sir Oliver does, and Lionel passes away in his brother's arms as Sir Oliver mourns his death and remembers the happy years they had spent together. Faced with confirmation of all Rosamund has told them, the tribunal is forced to admit they have no ground for hanging Sir Oliver, and Lord Henry, as the Queen's Lieutenant, personally guarantees that he will ensure Sir Oliver is cleared of all charges when they arrive in England. The book closes with Sir Oliver and Rosamund on the deck of the ship, embracing as they look forward to a happy future. 

=====

In 1763, Captain Edward Reynolds is hunting pirates, or at least trying to do so. He does not consider himself a great commander, and neither does most of his crew. Only his first officer Jules believes in him. When they save a young woman named Isabella from drowning, she tells them that her husband's ship has been destroyed by the feared Captain Victor Stagnetti and his crew of cutthroat pirates. Reynolds and his crew go hunting for Stagnetti, who tries to find a map that leads to a powerful secret on an island somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. Stagnetti finds the secret "staff" unlocked by Isabella's husband Manuel. After the crew escapes the spawn of darkness summoned by Stagnetti, their ship engages Stagnetti's in battle, ending Stagnetti's reign as a pirate. 

=====

While Bart and Lisa are cleaning out the garage, they stumble across old home movies. One of the tapes they found has an old episode of the sitcom Perfect Strangers on it, followed by a commercial for a product called "Baby Stink-Breath"— with Bart as a baby with bad breath. Bart confronts Homer and Marge about the advertisement, and is told that his part in the commercial made him a lot of money. Although Marge attempts to comfort him by stating she had it put away in a trust fund, Homer rudely interrupts and confesses that he spent it all to buy back incriminating photos to avoid a scandal. The next day, a furious Bart goes to a law firm named "Luvum and Burnham" Family Law, at Milhouse's suggestion. He meets the Blue Haired Lawyer there, and tells him that he wants a 'divorce' from his family. The next day, during dinner, the Blue Haired Lawyer comes to the house to serve Homer with a subpoena and a side of bacon to open the door. When the family discovers that Bart is suing them and declaring that he wants to be emancipated, they are horrified. An angry Homer defends himself by telling Bart that his father was terrible to him and rather than sue Abe, Homer got his revenge by dropping him off at a cheap nursing home. At the trial, Bart's case is made clear in various ways, such as using a doll and Homer's anger management issues. Homer tries to deny it, claiming he is a calm and collected father who has minor anger problems when his son does something to make him mad. Judge Harm does not believe him and asks the stenographer to repeat the very same threatening words he spoke, much to both his embarrassment and Bart's lawyer's joy. She begins to mention that Bart is too young for emancipation, Homer is rude in interrupting her. He is happy and believes he's won the case. When Homer attempts to exert his control in his plans to punish Bart, Judge Harm is angered and rudely interrupts him. She mentions that she will make an exception for Bart's case. This makes Homer even more nervous than before knowing the capabilities of her ruling. Judge Harm cites that his sociopathic behavior and extreme anger management issues towards Bart are sufficient reasons that is unsafe for him to continue living at home. She declares him legally emancipated and is allowed to live on his own. As a result, Judge Harm orders Homer to give up half his salary as his punishment for stealing Bart's money. He tries to plead his case to her against giving up his paycheck, claiming he's already paying for alimony to his Vegas ex-wife and thinks the punishment is unfair. When Harm ignores him, Marge tries to get him to be reasonable and behave himself. Furious, Homer tries to attack Judge Harm, but the bailiff stops him and drags him away for contempt of court. The next day, Bart rents a loft near downtown and says tearful goodbyes to everyone except Homer. Marge tries to convince him to stay, promising that she will let him swear in the house more. Bart refuses and tells Marge that she, Lisa, and Maggie have done nothing wrong. His problem has always been with Homer and now that Bart is emancipated, he is free from his father's abuse. Bart leaves in a taxi and Homer breaks down sobbing in the middle of the road. Despite an early and scary experience in the loft to its dangerous location, Bart discovers that Tony Hawk is also living in the building and throwing a party with punk band Blink-182. He and Hawk become friends, and he is content with his new life. Back at the Simpson house, Marge is still depressed about Bart being gone and convinces Homer to apologize to him. The family goes to meet him at his loft and Homer apologizes. Despite accepting the apology and promise of better treatment, Bart tells them that he is going on Tony Hawk's Skewed Tour. At the event, Homer meets up with Hawk and pleads with him to pretend to lose to him so that he can make Bart proud of him again. Hawk reluctantly agrees and gives Homer a modified skateboard, which does all the stunt work. Later on, Hawk decides to teach Homer a lesson in humility for the way he has hurt Bart. After a skateboard match, Tony falls to the ground and Homer finally promises that he will never mistreat Bart again. Lindsey Naegle approaches Homer and asks him to star in a commercial. Homer accepts so that he can get Bart fully repaid. At the Simpson house, Homer is embarrassed when he watches the final product, an advertisement for an impotence drug, but Bart tells him that nobody will remember it in 50 years. Fifty years later, Homer is dead, and an elderly Nelson Muntz visits his grave to laugh at him. 

=====

In the Netherlands of the 1920s, Dreverhaven (Decleir), a dreaded bailiff, is found dead, with a knife sticking out of his stomach. The obvious suspect is Jacob Willem Katadreuffe (Van Huêt), an ambitious young lawyer who worked his way up from poverty, always managing to overcome Dreverhaven's personal attacks against him. Katadreuffe was seen leaving Dreverhaven's office on the afternoon of the murder. He is arrested and taken to police headquarters, where he reflects back on the story of his long relationship with Dreverhaven, who, police learn, is also Katadreuffe's father. The story begins when Katadreuffe's taciturn mother, Joba (played by Schuurman), worked as a housekeeper for Dreverhaven. During that time, they had sex only once (it is implied that the encounter was forced upon Joba). She becomes pregnant and leaves her employer to make a living for herself and her son. Time and again, she rejects Dreverhaven's offers by mail of money and marriage. Even as a child, Katadreuffe finds that his path crosses with Dreverhaven, often with dire consequences. When he is arrested for becoming involved in a boyish theft and tells the police that Dreverhaven is his father, Dreverhaven refuses to recognize him as his son. When, as a young man, he unwittingly takes a loan from a bank that Dreverhaven owns to purchase a failed cigar store, Dreverhaven sues him to win the money back and force him into bankruptcy. Still, Katadreuffe manages to pay back the debt, finding a clerical position in the law firm retained to pursue him for his cigar-store debt. He manages to secure this job, even though most of his education is derived from reading an incomplete English-language encyclopedia that he finds as a boy in his mother's apartment; studying this set, he manages to teach himself English, which turns out to be a valuable talent in the eyes of his employers. After paying back the cigar-store debt, Katadreuffe immediately seeks a second loan from Dreverhaven, so that he can finance his education and legal studies and, ultimately, take and pass the bar examination. Dreverhaven agrees, on the condition that he can call back the loan at any time. Despite the bailiff's efforts to hinder his son, Katadreuffe passes his bar examination and qualifies as a lawyer. On the afternoon when his firm holds a celebration of his becoming a lawyer (the day with which the film begins, the day of the murder), Katadreuffe storms into Dreverhaven's office to confront his lifelong tormentor, the bailiff. Katadreuffe reacts with rage to Dreverhaven's congratulations, and his offer of a handshake, and, though he at first turns to leave, he runs toward Dreverhaven and attempts to attack him. After a bloody and angry brawl, Katadreuffe is witnessed leaving the bailiff's office. However, the police discover that Katadreuffe left Dreverhaven at 5:00 p.m., though an examination of the bailiff's body reveals that Dreverhaven died at 11:00 p.m. The police finally reveal to Katadreuffe that Dreverhaven actually committed suicide. After Katadreuffe is cleared, a police official hands him a document, left by Dreverhaven's lawyer, that turns out to be the bailiff's will, which leaves all of his considerable wealth to Katadreuffe. The will is signed "Vader" (Father). 

=====

Illustration by "Herpin Inv" for an early edition William Legrand has relocated from New Orleans to Sullivan's Island in South Carolina after losing his family fortune, and has brought his African-American servant Jupiter with him. The story's narrator, a friend of Legrand, visits him one evening to see an unusual scarab-like bug he has found. The bug's weight and lustrous appearance convince Jupiter that it is made of pure gold. Legrand has lent it to an officer stationed at a nearby fort, but he draws a sketch of it for the narrator, with markings on the carapace that resemble a skull. As they discuss the bug, Legrand becomes particularly focused on the sketch and carefully locks it in his desk for safekeeping. Confused, the narrator takes his leave for the night. One month later, Jupiter visits the narrator on behalf of his master and asks him to come immediately, fearing that Legrand has been bitten by the bug and gone insane. Once they arrive on the island, Legrand insists that the bug will be the key to restoring his lost fortune. He leads them on an expedition to a particular tree and has Jupiter climb it until he finds a skull nailed at the end of one branch. At Legrand's direction, Jupiter drops the bug through one eye socket and Legrand paces out to a spot where the group begins to dig. Finding nothing there, Legrand has Jupiter climb the tree again and drop the bug through the skull's other eye; they choose a different spot to dig, this time finding two skeletons and a chest filled with gold coins and jewelry. They estimate the total value at $1.5 million, but even that figure proves to be below the actual worth when they eventually sell the items. Legrand explains that on the day he found the bug on the mainland coastline, Jupiter had picked up a scrap piece of parchment to wrap it up. Legrand kept the scrap and used it to sketch the bug for the narrator; in so doing, though, he noticed traces of invisible ink, revealed by the heat of the fire burning on the hearth. The parchment proved to contain a cryptogram, which Legrand deciphered as a set of directions for finding a treasure buried by the infamous pirate Captain Kidd. The final step involved dropping a slug or weight through the left eye of the skull in the tree; their first dig failed because Jupiter mistakenly dropped it through the right eye instead. Legrand muses that the skeletons may be the remains of two members of Kidd's crew, who buried the chest and were then killed to silence them. 

=====

Rivens story continues where Myst and its companion novel, The Book of Atrus, left off. The player assumes the role of the Stranger, the protagonist of the first game and friend of Atrus (Rand Miller). Atrus knows the ancient art of creating "linking books", specially written books that serve as portals to other worlds known as "Ages". Atrus needs the Stranger's help to free his wife, Catherine (Sheila Goold; voice by Rengin Altay), who is held hostage in her home Age of Riven, which is slowly collapsing. Her captor is Gehn (John Keston), Atrus' manipulative father and self-declared ruler of Riven. Thirty years earlier, Atrus and Catherine trapped Gehn on Riven by removing all of the linking books that led out of the Age; the very last book to be removed, linking to the Age of Myst, was the one they held to escape Riven. In the belief that it would be destroyed, they let the book fall into the Star Fissure, a rift leading out of the damaged Age of Riven into a mysterious, space-like void. Catherine was later tricked into returning to Riven by her sons, Sirrus and Achenar, whereupon she was taken hostage by Gehn. Eventually, the player discovered the unharmed Myst book, leading to the events in Myst. At the beginning of Riven, Atrus equips the player with a trap book—a snare that functions as a one-man prison, yet looks identical to a linking book—and his personal diary. This diary summarizes the history of events leading to the present situation; Atrus cannot explain in depth as he is engaged in rewriting the descriptive book of Riven, in an attempt to slow its deterioration. The player must enter the Age with no way of leaving, as Atrus cannot risk sending a real linking book to Riven until Gehn is safely imprisoned lest he use it to escape Riven. Instructing the player to capture Gehn in the trap book, find Catherine, and then signal him, Atrus holds out the link book that will transport the player to Riven. Once there, the player explores the islands of Riven, eventually discovering Catherine's prison. The player also travels to Tay, the Age of the Moiety (rebellious Rivenese under the leadership of Catherine who are attempting to end Gehn's tyrannical rule), and the "233rd Age", Gehn's personal sanctuary, where the player meets Gehn himself. Gehn attempts to convince the player that his intentions to rebuild D'ni (the civilization responsible for originating the art of the link books) were honorable and that he seeks atonement for his past transgressions. Because of the decay of Riven's structure, the only way to clearly signal Atrus is to bring about a massive disturbance in the Age's stability—accomplished by reopening the Star Fissure, which Gehn had closed. When it opens, Atrus immediately links to Riven to investigate and meets the player at the brink of the Fissure. Depending on the player's actions, the ending to Riven varies. In the best ending, the player tricks Gehn into the prison book and releases Catherine. Atrus and Catherine thank the Stranger before linking back to the Age of Myst. The Stranger then falls into the Star Fissure to be taken on the path back to his world. The worst ending involves neither capturing Gehn nor releasing Catherine, which allows Gehn to kill Atrus (and then the player) and escape from his imprisonment. Other endings include capturing Gehn without saving Catherine, or being trapped in the prison book. 

=====

A television announcer reports sightings of a red fireball around the world. Facetiously, he calculates its path will take it to California. Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes), a wealthy but highly troubled woman with a history of emotional instability and immoderate drinking, is driving on a road that night in an American desert. A glowing sphere settles on the deserted highway in front of her, causing her to veer off the road. When she gets out to investigate the object, a huge creature exits and reaches for her (the viewer sees only an enormous hand falling upon the screaming woman). Nancy escapes and runs back to town, but nobody believes her story due to her known drinking problem and a recent stay in a mental institution. Her philandering husband, Harry Archer (William Hudson), is more interested in his latest girlfriend, town floozy Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers). He pretends to be the good husband in the hope that Nancy will "snap" and return to the "booby hatch," leaving him in control of her $50 million estate. Nancy bargains with Harry, asking him to search the desert with her for the "flying satellite," agreeing to a voluntary return to the sanatorium if they find nothing. As night falls, they find the spacecraft and the alien creature emerges, revealed as an enormous male human. Harry fires his pistol at the giant, but the gunfire has no effect. Harry flees, leaving Nancy behind. She is later discovered on the roof of her pool house in a delirious state and must be sedated by her family physician, Dr. Cushing (Roy Gordon). The doctor comments on scratches he finds on Nancy's neck, and theorizes that she was exposed to radiation. Egged on by his mistress Honey, Harry plans to inject Nancy with a lethal dose of her sedative, but when he sneaks up to her room, he discovers that she has grown to giant size. In a scene paralleling Nancy's first alien encounter, only an enormous hand is seen as Harry reacts in horror. Cushing and Dr. Von Loeb, a specialist brought in by Cushing, are at a loss on how to treat their giant patient. They keep her in a morphine-induced coma and restrain her with chains while waiting for the authorities to arrive. The sheriff and Jess (Ken Terrell), Nancy's faithful butler, track enormous footprints leading away from the estate to the alien sphere. Inside the sphere, they find Nancy's diamond necklace (containing the largest diamond in the world) and other large diamonds, each in a clear orb. They speculate that the jewels are being used as a power source for the alien ship. The huge human reappears, and the sheriff and Jess flee. Meanwhile, Nancy awakens and breaks free of her restraints. She tears off her mansion's roof and, clothed in a bikini-like arrangement of bed linens, heads to town to avenge herself on her unfaithful husband. Ripping the roof off the local bar, she spots Honey and drops a ceiling beam on her rival, killing her. Harry panics, grabs Deputy Charlie's pistol, and begins shooting, but she picks up Harry and walks away. The gunshots have no apparent effect on her. The sheriff fires a shotgun at her, which causes a nearby power line transformer to blow up, killing her. The doctors find Harry lying dead in her hand. 

=====

In the Southside Reef, a lowly bluestreak cleaner wrasse named Oscar fantasizes about being rich and famous. Soon after arriving for work at the Whale Wash, he is called to the office of his boss, a pufferfish named Sykes, to discuss the fact that he owes a large sum of money and must pay it back by the next day. He remembers being humiliated as a child because his father was a tongue scrubber, so his angelfish friend, Angie, offers him a shiny pink pearl that was a gift from her grandmother to pawn and pay his debt. Oscar brings the money to the race track to meet Sykes, but hears that the race is rigged and bets it all on a seahorse named "Lucky Day". A lionfish named Lola sees this and flagrantly seduces an excited Oscar. Sykes is annoyed that Oscar bet the money but agrees to see how the race turns out. Moments before Lucky Day crosses the finish line, he trips and loses. Meanwhile, a family of criminally-inclined sharks which has associates such as killer whales, swordfish, and octopuses has a problem with one of their sons, Lenny, who is a vegetarian and refuses to act the part of a killer. His crime lord father, Don Edward Lino, orders his violent eldest son, Frankie, to mentor his brother in the family business. Frankie sees Oscar left for dead in the middle of the ocean by Sykes' two jellyfish henchmen, Ernie and Bernie, and urges Lenny to eat Oscar, but Lenny instead frees Oscar and tells him to escape. Furious, Frankie charges at Oscar, but suddenly an anchor falls on his head, killing him. Devastated and frightened over his brother's demise, Lenny flees. As there were no other witnesses and Oscar was seen near the body, everyone in the reef comes to believe that he killed Frankie, an opportunity that Oscar decides to exploit for fame. Oscar returns to the reef with a new title of "Sharkslayer". Sykes becomes his manager and Oscar moves to the "top of the reef" to live in luxury. At the same time, Don Lino has everyone search for Lenny. When several sharks approach Oscar's neighborhood, his neighbors expect him to drive them away so he goes, after hiding behind Lola and encounters Lenny. Since he does not wish to return home, Lenny begs Oscar to let him stay at Oscar's house. Soon, Angie finds out about Oscar's lie and threatens to tell everyone. Oscar and Lenny stage an event in which Lenny pretends to terrorize the town and Oscar defeats him. Though this further cements Oscar's reputation and causes the beautiful but vindictive lionfish Lola to become his girlfriend, it infuriates Don Lino. Afterwards, Oscar and an angered Angie get into an argument, where she reveals that she had feelings for Oscar even before he became the "Sharkslayer", causing Oscar to dump Lola and reflect on the consequences of his selfishness. Lola then beats Oscar up. Soon, Oscar buys some gifts for Angie, only to discover that Don Lino has kidnapped her to stage a meeting. Lenny attends disguised as a dolphin named Sebastian. Don Lino threatens to eat Angie if Oscar does not comply. Lenny grabs Angie into his mouth, but then regurgitates her and unintentionally reveals himself in front of everyone. Enraged, Don Lino chases Oscar through the reef. Oscar heads for the Whale Wash and ends up trapping Don Lino and accidentally trapping Lenny in the machinery. Oscar is given an ovation by everyone, but he finally confesses the truth behind Frankie's death. He then tells Don Lino that everyone likes Lenny for who he is and urges him to respect everyone's individual choices. Inspired by Oscar's confession, Don Lino reconciles with his son accepting him for who he is and states that he and his gang bear the city no ill will. Oscar forsakes all the wealth he has acquired, makes peace with the sharks, becomes co-manager of the Whale Wash, now frequented by sharks, killer whales, and swordfish, and lives happily ever after with Angie. In the mid-credits, Lola shows up at Oscar's apartment to apologize only to encounter Crazy Joe, Oscar's eccentric hermit crab neighbor. 

=====



=====

David Lurie is a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his own daughter. He is twice-divorced and dissatisfied with his job as a 'communications' lecturer, teaching a class in romantic literature at a technical university in Cape Town in post-apartheid South Africa. Lurie's sexual activities are all inherently risky. Before the sexual affair that will ruin him, he becomes attached to a prostitute and attempts to have a romantic relationship with her (despite her having a family), which she rebuffs. He then seduces a secretary at his university, only to completely ignore her afterwards. His "disgrace" comes when he seduces one of his more vulnerable students, a girl named Melanie Isaacs, plying her with alcohol and other actions that arguably amount to rape; later, when she stops attending his class as a result, he falsifies her grades. Lurie refuses to stop the affair, even after being threatened by Melanie's erstwhile boyfriend, who knocks the papers off Lurie's desk, and her father, who confronts him but whom David runs from. This affair is thereafter revealed to the school, amidst a climate of condemnation for his allegedly predatory acts, and a committee is convened to pass judgement on his actions. David refuses to read Melanie's statement, defend himself, or apologize in any sincere form and so is forced to resign from his post. Lurie is working on an opera concerning Lord Byron's final phase of life in Italy which mirrors his own life in that Byron is living a life of hedonism and excess and is having an affair with a married woman. Dismissed from his teaching position, he takes refuge on his lesbian daughter Lucy's farm in the Eastern Cape. For a time, his daughter's influence and natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life; for example, in attending farmers markets where Lucy sells her wares, and in working with Petrus, a polygamously-married black African whose farm borders Lucy's and who nominally works for Lucy as a "dog-man" (Lucy boards dogs). But the balance of power in the country is shifting. Shortly after becoming comfortable with rural life, he is forced to come to terms with the aftermath of an attack on the farm. Three men, who claim to need Lucy's phone to call for aid for a sick relative, force their way into the farmhouse. The men rape Lucy and attempt to kill David by setting him on fire. In addition, they also shoot the caged dogs which Lucy is boarding, an action which David later muses was done since black people in South Africa are taught to fear dogs as symbols of white power and oppression. The men drive off in David's car: it is never recovered and they are never caught, although police once contact David to come pick up "his" car, which is in fact evidently not his car (different colour and registration number, different sound system). To David's relief, newspapers spell Lurie's name inaccurately ("Lourie"), meaning nothing will tie his disgraced academic persona to the news story describing the attack on his daughter's farm. Lucy becomes apathetic and agoraphobic after the attack. David presses her to report the full circumstances to the police, but she does not. Lucy does not want to, and in fact does not, discuss the attack with David until much later. The relationship between Lucy and David begins to show strain as the two recover from the attack in different ways. Lurie begins work with Bev Shaw, a friend of Lucy's, who keeps an animal shelter and frequently euthanizes animals, which David then disposes of. Shaw has an affair with Lurie, despite David finding her physically unattractive. Meanwhile, David suspects Petrus being complicit in the attack. This suspicion is strengthened when one of the attackers, a young man named Pollux, attends one of Petrus's parties and is claimed by Petrus as a kinsman. Lucy refuses to take action against Pollux, and she and David simply leave the party. As the relationship between Lucy and David deteriorates, David decides to discontinue living with his daughter and return to Cape Town Returning home to his house in Cape Town, David finds that his house has been broken into during his long absence. He attempts to attend a theatre performance starring Melanie, but is harassed into leaving by the same boyfriend who had earlier threatened him. He also attempts to apologize to Melanie's father, leading to an awkward meeting with Melanie's younger sister, which rekindles David's internal passion and lust. David finally meets with Melanie's father, who makes him stay for dinner. Melanie's father insists that his forgiveness is irrelevant: Lurie must follow his own path to redemption. At the novel's end, Lurie returns to Lucy's farm. Lucy has become pregnant by one of the rapists, but ignores advice to terminate the pregnancy. Pollux ultimately comes to live with Petrus, and spies on Lucy bathing. When David catches Pollux doing this, Lucy forces David to desist from any retribution. David surmises that ultimately, Lucy will be forced into marrying Petrus and giving him her land, and it appears that Lucy is resigned to this contingency. Lurie returns to working with Shaw, where Lurie has been keeping a resilient stray from being euthanised. The novel concludes as Lurie "gives him up" to Bev Shaw's euthanasia. 

=====

Will McLean, returning to the Carolina Military Institute in Charleston, South Carolina an unknown number of years after his graduation, tells the story of his life at the Institute. In 1966, Will was an English major on a basketball scholarship, in his fourth and final year at the Institute. Will is not interested in a military career, and had only attended on account of his father, also an alumnus, whom he made a deathbed promise years ago to attend and eventually wear the ring. He is generally well liked and his professors and peers recognize him for his integrity and fairness, although he is also sarcastic and independent. Will struggles to fit in the strict military environment, but finds solace in his three roommates, who have become his closest friends: Tradd St. Croix, the son of an upper class Charlestonian family and two brawny Italian-American boys from the North, Dante "Pig" Pignetti and Mark Santoro. They all look forward to graduation, although Will's friends will head off to fight in the Vietnam War, which Will is personally against. However, Will does have some pride in the Institute, representing it in basketball. Though antiwar, he also despises the discrimination the Institute faces from civilian students of other colleges due to its military association, which he sees at away games. In a sidebar, when Will plays a game against the Virginia Military Institute, it is considered the biggest rival game, but also notes VMI was the only team all season that did not harass him and his teammates. Colonel Berrineau, the Commandant of Cadets who is commonly known as The Bear, asks Will to look out for the Institute's first black cadet, Tom Pearce, knowing that Will is the only liberal in the student body. Will also begins a secret relationship with Annie Kate Gervais, a girl from an upper class Charlestonian family who has become pregnant from a boy who refused to marry her, though their relationship is doomed because Will is Irish-American and Catholic. Will attempts to help a freshman, Poteete, who is struggling with the plebe system, the brutal hazing and abuse experienced by freshmen at the Institute, but he kills himself. In an extended flashback, Will then describes his own plebe year three years earlier. Will learns that the only way to survive is to bond closely with the other members of his class against the cadre. Many of Will's classmates quit due to the brutal hazing. However, a recruit named Bobby Bentley, who has a problem with urinating on himself due to the stress of hazing, refuses to quit. Conventional hazing methods fail to break Bentley, causing Will's class to come together, making Will's cadre the subject of ridicule of the entire cadet corps. Near the end of the year, Will's freshman class is recognized as cadets, and the hazing ends. Some time before this, Bobby Bentley is taken off campus and withdraws from the Institute the following day for unknown reasons. Back in Will's senior year, he hears rumors of The Ten, a mysterious Institute secret society that ensures certain cadets, deemed unacceptable to "wear the ring" (that is, to be a graduate of the Institute, denoted by wearing of a class ring), are run out by any means necessary. Will discovers that the Ten are real and are trying to run Pearce out to keep the Institute all white. Meanwhile, Will and the other seniors are given their Institute rings in preparation for graduation, and Will wins the final basketball game of his career. Annie Kate's baby is stillborn and she rejects Will, wanting to forget all about the time she spent pregnant. Will looks further into the Ten and reunites with Bobby Bentley, who reveals that, during their plebe year, he was spirited away to a house, and was threatened and tortured to the point that he agreed to quit. Bentley says his ultimate decision to quit was not due to the torture, but the realization he no longer wished to be associated with any organization that would have a group like The Ten. Bentley recalls one member of The Ten, whom they piece together as a high-ranking cadet from their plebe year. Will, Mark, Tradd, and Pig, discovering this Ten member is now a student at a nearby law school, abduct him, then interrogate him on a secluded railroad track until he reveals the location of the house, which is located on the property of the president of the Institute, General Bentley Durrell. When Pearce is kidnapped by the Ten, Will goes to the house but is discovered. He is rescued by Mark and Pig, but their identities are now known by the Ten. Pearce is intimidated into silence, and the Ten attempt to have Mark, Pig and Will thrown out of the school. Pig is caught on an honor code violation due to the Ten and loses the honor court case, despite the help of his roommates. After he is drummed out of school, he throws himself in front of a train, killing himself. The Ten then attempt to get Will and Mark kicked out of school for excess demerits. Just as they are about to be thrown out, Will discovers that Tradd's father was a member of the Ten. He and Mark read his journals and discover the names of all current and former members. They also discover that Tradd is a member of the Ten and had been feeding the Ten information the whole time, and that Tradd is the father of Annie Kate's baby. Will confronts Tradd and ends their friendship. Will then blackmails the General with the information on the Ten into letting him and Mark graduate. Durrell refuses, claiming their substandard performance and the fact that the graduate they kidnapped want to press charges against them is justification for dismissal, until The Bear enters the General's office, saying that he has contacted multiple cadets who were run out of the Institute and are now considering lawsuits. General Durrell relents when there is also the threat of exposing this to newspapers, as evidenced by Mark seen outdoors mailing letters. However, the Board of Governors gets Colonel Berrineau removed from his position as commandant. Will and Mark are allowed to graduate, and shortly before this he gets a letter from Annie Kate thanking him for standing by her and that he will make a good husband to whatever woman he finds. As Will graduates, he reflects that eight of his fellow cadets would eventually be killed in action in the Vietnam War, among them Mark. Will also reveals that The Ten member and class "golden boy" John Alexander would fade into obscurity, last seen working as a ROTC instructor at a small university, while Mark Santoro topped the entire class in awards for valor. As Will receives his diploma from the Institute, he is coldly told by General Durrell not to disgrace the ring, to which Will simply replies with "Dante Pignetti". The Bear appears at the graduation to congratulate Will. Disgusted at seeing General Durrell's signature on his diploma, Will asks Colonel Berrineau to sign it as Will wants the name of a man he can respect on the diploma. The Bear does not sign, remarking, "there already is, Bubba", pointing to Will's name. 

=====

Learning of a secret weapon from the diary of his deceased grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, Eggman infiltrates a high-security G.U.N. facility and revives it using a Chaos Emerald.Dark Story, Level 1: Iron Gate The weapon – a black hedgehog and self-proclaimed "Ultimate Life Form" named Shadow – offers to help Eggman conquer the world, telling him to rendezvous at an abandoned space colony, ARK, with more Chaos Emeralds. Shadow goes to Central City, encountering G.U.N.'s forces after stealing an Emerald. Shadow has vowed to fulfill a promise to a girl, Maria, which he interprets as one of revenge.Dark Story, Level 4: Radical Highway Shadow blasts through the military force and meets Sonic. After a brief confrontation, Shadow escapes and G.U.N. captures Sonic, whom they mistake for Shadow. Meanwhile, Knuckles encounters Rouge and Eggman, who try to steal the Master Emerald. He stops them by shattering the Emerald and searches for the scattered shards.Hero Story, Level 2: Wild Canyon Rouge, spying for the government, heads to Eggman's base and the ARK.Dark Story, Level 5: Egg Quarters There, Shadow shows Eggman the Eclipse Cannon, another superweapon created by Gerald, and discloses his plan: to charge the cannon with Chaos Emeralds and use it to take over the world. Rouge appears, offering them a Chaos Emerald to gain their trust. Tails and Amy infiltrate G.U.N.'s island base and rescue Sonic,Hero Story, Level 3: Prison Lane while Eggman, Shadow and Rouge collect three Emeralds on the island.Dark Story, Level 7: Weapons BedDark Story, Level 8: Security HallDark Story, Level 9: White Jungle Eggman makes a global broadcast threatening to fire on the Earth in 24 hours if his demands are not met, demonstrating the cannon's power by using it to destroy half the Moon. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles use a Chaos Emerald in their possession to track down the other six. They infiltrate Eggman's base,Hero Story, Levels 10: Hidden Base, 11: Pyramid Cave, and 12: Death Chamber boarding his shuttle shortly before it launches into space. Knuckles' Master Emerald shards are spilled along the way, and he leaves to collect them.Hero Story, Level 14: Meteor Herd He fights Rouge again, but when he saves her from falling into a lava pit, she relinquishes her shards and he restores the Master Emerald. On the ARK, Tails reveals he has designed a counterfeit Chaos Emerald to destroy the Eclipse Cannon. As Sonic is about to use it, Eggman tells him that he has captured Tails and Amy, forcing him to return and rescue them.Hero Story, Level 15: Crazy Gadget and Dark Story, Level 13: Cosmic Wall Sonic tries to trick Eggman with the fake Emerald, but Eggman jettisons him in an escape pod rigged with explosives. Tails, thinking Sonic is dead, defeats Eggman. Sonic uses the power of the fake Emerald to escape;Hero Story, Level 16: Final Rush Shadow is sent to intercept him, but Sonic defeats him and destroys the Eclipse Cannon.Dark Story, Level 14: Final Chase Eggman sneaks away from Tails and Amy with the last Emerald and arms the Eclipse Cannon. The entire colony suddenly starts falling and a prerecorded message from Gerald is broadcast globally: he programmed the ARK to collide with Earth if the Emeralds were used, destroying it in revenge for the government condemning his research and killing his colleagues, including his granddaughter Maria. Everyone works together to access the cannon's core and neutralize the ARK using the Master Emerald.Last Story: Cannon's Core When Shadow refuses to participate, Amy pleads for his help, allowing him to remember what Maria really requested of Shadow: for him to help mankind. Shadow catches up with Sonic and Knuckles in the core as they encounter the Biolizard, a prototype Ultimate Life Form. Shadow repels it, allowing Knuckles to deactivate the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald. The Biolizard uses Chaos Control to fuse with the cannon, becoming the Finalhazard and continuing the ARK's collision course. Sonic and Shadow use the Emeralds to transform into their super forms, defeating the Finalhazard and using Chaos Control to teleport the ARK back into stable orbit. This depletes Shadow's energy and he plummets to Earth, content in fulfilling his promise to Maria. The people on Earth celebrate as the heroes return home and Sonic bids Shadow farewell. 

=====

Patty Hoperabbit, along with her family, arrives in Maple Town, a small town inhabited by friendly animals. However, in a train heist by the sly – if usually "endearingly unsuccessful" – thief, Wilde Wolf stole the mailbag from her father and escaped into the forest. Soon she followed after him to retrieve the mailbag. In the midst of getting the bag back from the thief, she befriends a boy of her age named Bobby Kumanoff who has the bag. After they escape from Wilde Wolf and outwit him, they deliver the mailbag safely to her father. Soon, the Rabbit Family settles in Maple Town as mail carriers and the bitter, yet sweet friendship of Patty and Bobby begins to blossom. At the same time they try to foil Wilde Wolf's plans. The series's setting is Canada around the 1920s, while the setting of Palm Town Chapter is based on the West Coast of the United States around the 1980s. 

=====

An unnamed man is taking a walking tour through the English countryside. He is later identified as Dr Elwin Ransom, a philologist. He stumbles upon a cottage where a woman is waiting for her son Harry to return. Ransom agrees to help her and goes to The Rise, the "big house" where the woman's son works. Ransom hears shouting and struggling inside, and then sees two men, Weston and Devine. trying to force Harry to enter a structure against his will. Ransom intervenes, and Devine sees him as a better prospect than Harry for what he and Weston have in mind. Devine offers Ransom a drink and a bed for the night. After enjoying what he thinks is a glass of whiskey and water, Ransom realises that he has been drugged and passes out. When he regains consciousness he finds himself in a spherical metallic spacecraft en route to a planet called Malacandra. Wonder and excitement relieve his anguish at being kidnapped, but he is put on his guard when he overhears Weston and Devine deliberating whether they will again drug him or keep him conscious when they turn him over to the inhabitants of Malacandra, the sorns, as a sacrifice. Ransom appropriates a knife and plans to escape when he gets the chance. Soon after the three land on the planet Ransom runs off just after he first sees the sorns, tall aliens who terrify him. He wanders around, finding that all the lakes, streams, and rivers are warm, that gravity is significantly lower than on Earth, and that the plants and mountains are all extremely tall and thin. He meets a civilised native, a hross named Hyoi, and becomes a guest for several weeks in Hyoi's village, where he uses his philological skills to learn the language of the hrossa. He discovers that gold, known to the hrossa as "sun's blood", is plentiful on Malacandra, and thus discerns Devine's motive for making the voyage. Weston's motives are later shown to be more complex: he is bent on expanding humanity through the universe, abandoning each planet and star system as it becomes uninhabitable. The hrossa honour Ransom by asking him to join them in a hunt for a hnakra (plural hnéraki), a fierce water-creature that seems to be the only dangerous predator on the planet, resembling both a shark and a crocodile. While they are hunting Ransom and his hrossa companions are told by an eldil, an almost invisible creature, that Ransom must go to meet Oyarsa, the eldil who is ruler of the planet, and indeed should already have done so. After killing the hnakra with Ransom's help, Hyoi is shot dead by Devine and Weston, who are seeking Ransom in order hand him over to the "sorns" (the Malacandrian plural is séroni'). Another hross, Hwin, tells Ransom that he must now cross the mountains to escape Weston and Devine and fulfil his orders. On his journey Ransom meets a sorn, but finds that the séroni are peaceful and kindly. The sorn, Augray, explains the nature of Oyarsa and the other eldila'.' The next day, carrying Ransom on his shoulder, Augray takes him to Oyarsa. After a stop at the dwelling place of a sorn scientist, where Ransom is questioned thoroughly about Earth, he reaches Meldilorn, the island home of Oyarsa. There Ransom meets a pfifltrigg who tells him about the beautiful houses and works of art that his people make in their native forests. Ransom is then led to Oyarsa, who explained that there is an Oyarsa for each of the planets in our solar system. The Oyarsa of Earth, which is known to the eldila as Thulcandra, "the silent planet", has become "bent", or evil, and has been restricted to Thulcandra after "a great war" on the authority of Maleldil, the ruler of the universe. Ransom is ashamed at how little he can tell the Oyarsa of Malacandra about Earth, and how foolish he and other humans seem to Oyarsa. While the two are talking Devine and Weston are brought in, guarded by hrossa because they have killed three members of that species. Weston does not believe that Oyarsa exists and tries to terrify, then pacify the Malachandrians with decorative beads. Oyarsa sends him away to have his head dipped in cold water. Oyarsa then directs a pfifltrigg to "scatter the movements that were" the bodies of Hyoi and the two other hrossa using a small crystalline instrument that makes the bodies vanish. Weston is brought back and makes a long speech justifying his proposed invasion of Malacandra on "progressive" and evolutionary grounds, which Ransom attempts to translate into Malacandrian, thus laying bare the brutality and crudity of Weston's ambitions. Oyarsa acknowledges that Weston is acting out of a sense of duty to his species and not mere greed, but he points out that Weston's loyalty is only to "the seed" of Man, which he seeks to propagate. Weston responds that if Oyarsa does not understand Man's basic loyalty to Man, then he, Weston, cannot possibly instruct him. Oyarsa tells Weston and Devine that he cannot tolerate their presence, and lets them leave the planet immediately, under very unfavourable orbital conditions. Oyarsa offers Ransom the option of staying on Malacandra, but Ransom decides he does not belong there either. Oyarsa gives the men ninety days' worth of air and other supplies. On the voyage back Ransom becomes conscious of eldila as benevolent presences within the spaceship, After it lands on Earth the spaceship is "unbodied". Lewis, appearing as a character in his own novel, happens to write to Ransom asking whether he has come across the medieval Latin word Oyarses. This prompts Ransom to let Lewis in on his secret. Ransom then dedicates himself to the mission that the Oyarsa of Malacandra gave him: stopping Weston from doing further evil. . 

=====

The Terran system is growing and expanding all the time. But an old and corrupt Centaurian Empire is holding Terra down, as it encircles the Terran system and will not let the humans grow out of their current empire. For this reason Terra is at war with Proxima Centauri and is trying to find a way of breaking free from the Centaurian's hold upon them. In the war that results, Terra is continually coming up with new weapons to try and break the Centaurian defenses, but Proxima Centauri is also continually updating its defenses. Using spies and other such tactics, both parties find out about each other's advances, and no actual fighting ever occurs because both sides are too busy trying to beat each other with new technological developments. Terra even calculates their chances to win a war versus Centauri and updates these calculations with each new development, making their decision about a war rely on this calculation. Eventually Terra comes up with a concept for a bomb, called Icarus, that Proxima can not defend against because it travels at faster than light speeds, making use of the buildup of mass at near light speeds as a destructive agent when it slows down to below light speed. Then the odds start to side with Terra, and Terra prepares to fight with this new- found technology. There are two problems; the first is that Icarus does not yet work, which prevents Terra from using it against Proxima Centauri, and the second is the existence of a man from the past brought to the present. He is an "unknown variable" that confuses the almost prophetic SRB machines which calculate the probability of winning the war that all war decisions rely on. Hence, the book is titled "The Variable Man". This is where Thomas Cole, known as The Variable Man, comes in. Cole is a man from the past, from 1913, the time just before the First World War. He is brought into the present (or future depending on perspective) as an accident via a Time Bubble that was used for research about the past. He escapes from the authority in the future and spends a lot of time running from them afterwards. It is, however, discovered that this man has a certain genius to fix things and make things work. This is because he comes out of a period of time when humans had a natural genius and an ability to invent things and to solve problems. It is at this point that the man working on the FTL (Faster Than Light) bomb realizes that The Variable Man is the only person who can make Icarus work. As a result, the engineer working on Icarus convinces The Variable Man to help them out. Icarus does eventually work, although not in the way that anyone may have wanted. Instead of emerging from FTL speed in the middle of Centarus (the sun around which the Centaurian Empire is built) and blowing it, and the surrounding Centaurian system, out of existence, it turns out that Cole transformed (or fixed) Icarus into a working hyperdrive. However the order for Terra to launch a full-scale attack against the Centaurian Empire (under the assumption that the majority of the enemy ships and planets would have been destroyed in the Icarus explosion) had already been given. The forces of Terra suffered a terrible defeat, losing many of their ships, yet due to the Variable Man having successfully wired Icarus it was now possible for Terra to travel beyond the Centaurian Empire's perimeter. Terra was no longer blocked into their tiny system, and there was no further need for war. 

=====

Phineas Bogg (Jon-Erik Hexum) was one of a society of time travelers called Voyagers who, with the help of a young boy named Jeffrey Jones (played by Meeno Peluce) from 1982, used a hand-held device called an Omni (which looked much like a large pocket watch) to travel in time and ensured that history unfolded as we know it. Bogg and Jeffrey first met when Bogg's Omni malfunctioned and took him to 1982 (the device was not supposed to reach any later than 1970), landing him in the skyscraper apartment of Jeffrey's aunt and uncle, who were caring for him after his parents' deaths. Bogg's Guidebook, which contained a detailed description of how history was supposed to unfold, was grabbed by Jeffrey's dog Ralph, and in the struggle to retrieve it Jeffrey accidentally fell out his bedroom window and Bogg jumped out to rescue him by activating the Omni. With his Guidebook stuck in 1982, Bogg (who, being more interested in girls than in history, apparently never paid much attention in his Voyager training/history classes) had to rely on Jeffrey, whose father had been a history professor, to help him. Jeffrey's knowledge proved invaluable; for example, in the first episode Jeffrey ensured that baby Moses' basket traveled down the Nile where it was met by the Pharaoh's daughter. Phineas was timeless in his machismo, and managed to fall for a beautiful woman in almost every episode. Whenever Jeffrey's wisdom was paired up against Bogg's stubbornness, Jeffrey usually won out, to which Bogg would always mutter, "Smart kids give me a pain!" Another catchphrase used by Bogg as an expletive was "Bat's breath!"Shales, Tom. "Vivacious 'Voyagers!'" The Washington Post, Saturday, October 2, 1982. Retrieved March 4, 2020 They developed a strong relationship and became a formidable team. In the course of their adventures together, they sometimes encountered other Voyagers whose missions happened to overlap with theirs. It was revealed later in the series that despite Jeffrey's age, and the accidental circumstances of his first encounter with Phineas, he was always destined to become a Voyager. Over the closing credits of each episode, regular cast member Meeno Peluce said in voice over: "If you want to learn more about [historical element from the episode], take a voyage down to your public library. It's all in books!" 

=====

Actress Terry London and her producer, Max Marsh, visit an unnamed country in South America. A female biker cult led by a man named Satán () stalks and eventually murders the pregnant London and her circle of friends. 

=====

In the first two series Tarot is assisted by Sam Maxstead (Tony Selby), a reformed convict, and by Lillian ‘Lulli’ Palmer (Judy Loe), an orphan. Lulli shares a telepathic link with Tarot, which enables them to communicate over great distances. After having to leave the programme because of prior commitments, in the final series this pair were replaced by brother and sister Chas (Roy Holder), a photographer, and Mikki (Petra Markham), a female journalist, who have very similar roles, she also sharing a telepathic link with Tarot. A character named Mr Sweet (Donald Layne-Smith) who runs an antiquarian bookshop often has the answer to Tarot's questions. Sweet is based in a university for the last series. 

=====

In 1462, Vlad Dracula, a member of the Order of the Dragon, returns from a victory against the Turks to find his wife Elisabeta committed suicide after his enemies falsely reported his death. The priest proceeds to tell him that his wife's soul is damned to Hell for committing suicide. Enraged, Dracula desecrates the chapel and renounces God, declaring that he will rise from the grave to avenge Elisabeta with all the powers of darkness. He then stabs the chapel's stone cross with his sword and drinks the blood that pours out of it. In 1897, newly qualified solicitor Jonathan Harker takes the Transylvanian Count Dracula as a client from his colleague Renfield who has gone insane. Jonathan travels to Transylvania to arrange Dracula's real estate acquisitions in London. Jonathan meets Dracula who discovers a picture of his fiancée Mina Murray and believes that she is the reincarnation of Elisabeta. Dracula leaves Jonathan to be attacked and fed upon by his brides, while he sails to England with boxes of his native Transylvanian soil, taking up residence at Carfax Abbey. His arrival is foretold by the ravings of Renfield, now an inmate in Dr. Jack Seward's insane asylum. In London, Dracula emerges as a wolf-like creature amid a fierce thunderstorm and hypnotically seduces, then bites Lucy Westenra, with whom Mina is staying while Jonathan is in Transylvania. Lucy's deteriorating health and behavioral changes prompt her former suitors Quincey Morris and Dr. Seward, along with her fiancé Arthur Holmwood to summon Dr. Abraham Van Helsing who recognizes Lucy as the victim of a vampire; he eventually discovers that the creature is Dracula. Dracula, appearing young and handsome during daylight, meets and charms Mina. When Mina receives word from Jonathan — who has escaped from the castle and recovered at a convent — she travels to Romania to marry him. In his fury, Dracula transforms Lucy into a vampire. Van Helsing, Holmwood, Seward and Morris kill the undead Lucy the following night. After Jonathan and Mina return to London, Jonathan and Van Helsing lead the others to Carfax Abbey, where they destroy the Count's boxes of soil. Dracula enters the asylum, where he kills Renfield for warning Mina of his presence. He visits Mina, who is staying in Seward's quarters while the others hunt Dracula, and confesses that he murdered Lucy, and has been terrorizing Mina's friends. Confused and angry, Mina admits that she still loves him and remembers Elisabeta's previous life; at her insistence, Dracula begins transforming her into a vampire. The hunters burst into the bedroom, and Dracula claims Mina as his bride before escaping. As Mina changes, Van Helsing hypnotizes her and learns via her connection with Dracula that he is sailing home in his last remaining box. The hunters depart for Varna to intercept him, but Dracula reads Mina's mind and evades them. The hunters split up; Van Helsing and Mina travel to the Borgo Pass and the castle, while the others try to stop the gypsies transporting the Count. At night, Van Helsing and Mina are approached by Dracula's brides. Initially, they frighten Mina, but she eventually succumbs to their chanting and attempts to seduce Van Helsing. Before Mina can feed on his blood, Van Helsing places a communion wafer on her forehead, leaving a mark. He surrounds them with a ring of fire to protect them from the brides, then infiltrates the castle and decapitates them the following morning. As sunset approaches, Dracula's carriage arrives at the castle, pursued by the hunters. A fight between the hunters and gypsies ensues. Morris is stabbed in the back during the fight and Dracula bursts from his coffin at sunset. Jonathan slits his throat with a Khukri knife while the wounded Morris stabs him in the heart with a Bowie knife. As Dracula staggers, Mina rushes to his defense. Holmwood tries to attack, but Van Helsing and Jonathan allow her to retreat with the Count. Morris dies of his wound, surrounded by his friends. In the chapel where he renounced God, Dracula lies dying in an ancient demonic form; he and Mina share a kiss as the candles adorning the chapel light up and the cross repairs itself. Dracula turns back to his younger self and asks Mina to give him peace. Mina thrusts the knife through his heart and as he finally dies, the mark on her forehead disappears, as Dracula's curse is lifted. She decapitates him and gazes up at a fresco of Vlad and Elisabeta ascending to Heaven together, reunited at long last. 

=====

On a drifted boat, the body of Admiral Penistone is found. Last night, he had dinner with his niece in the house of the vicar. Afterwards he used his own boat to navigate over the river to his home. However, the boat on which the admiral is found is not his property, but is owned by the vicar. The admiral was stabbed by a knife or a dagger, but there is no blood on the floor. Furthermore, the mooring line has been cut. 

=====

Malachi Constant is the richest man in a future America. He possesses extraordinary luck that he attributes to divine favor which he has used to build upon his father's fortune. He becomes the centerpoint of a journey that takes him from Earth to Mars in preparation for an interplanetary war, to Mercury with another Martian survivor of that war, back to Earth to be pilloried as a sign of Man's displeasure with his arrogance, and finally to Titan where he again meets the man ostensibly responsible for the turn of events that have befallen him, Winston Niles Rumfoord. Rumfoord comes from a wealthy New England background. His private fortune was large enough to fund the construction of a personal spacecraft, and he became a space explorer. Traveling between Earth and Mars, his ship--carrying Rumfoord and his dog, Kazak--entered a phenomenon known as a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, which is defined in the novel as "those places ... where all the different kinds of truths fit together." When they enter the infundibulum, Rumfoord and Kazak become "wave phenomena", somewhat akin to the probability waves encountered in quantum mechanics. They exist along a spiral stretching from the Sun to the star Betelgeuse. When a planet, such as the Earth, intersects their spiral, Rumfoord and Kazak materialize, temporarily, on that planet. When he entered the chrono-synclastic infundibulum, Rumfoord became aware of the past and future. Throughout the novel, he predicts events; unless he is deliberately lying, the predictions come true. It is in this state that Rumfoord established the "Church of God the Utterly Indifferent" on Earth to unite the planet after a Martian invasion. It is also in this state that Rumfoord, materializing on different planets, instigated the Martian invasion, which was designed to fail spectacularly. On Titan, the only place where he can exist permanently as a solid human being, Rumfoord befriends a traveller from Tralfamadore (a world that also figures in Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, among others) who needs a small metal component to repair his damaged spaceship. Salo, the Tralfamadorian explorer, is a robot built millennia earlier to carry a message to a distant galaxy. His spacecraft is powered by the Universal Will to Become or UWTB, the "prime mover" which makes matter and organization wish to appear out of nothingness. (UWTB, Vonnegut informs the reader, was responsible for the Universe in the first place and is the greatest imaginable power source). A small component on Salo's spacecraft breaks and strands him here in the Solar System for over 200 millennia. He requests help from Tralfamadore, and his fellow Tralfamadorians respond by manipulating human history so that primitive humans evolve and create a civilization in order to produce the replacement part. Rumfoord's encounter with the chrono-synclastic infundibulum, the following war with Mars and Constant's exile to Titan were manipulated via the Tralfamadorians' control of the UWTB. Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China and the Kremlin are all messages in the Tralfamadorian geometrical language, informing Salo of their progress. As it turns out, the replacement part is a small metal strip, brought to Salo by Constant and his son Chrono (born of Rumfoord's ex-wife). A sunspot disrupts Rumfoord's spiral, sending him and Kazak separately into the vastness of space. An argument between Rumfoord and Salo moments before concerning the contents of Salo's message, left unresolved because of Rumfoord's disappearance, leads the distraught Salo to disassemble himself, thereby stranding the humans on Titan. It is revealed that the message was a single dot, meaning 'Greetings' in Tralfamadorian. Chrono chooses to live among the Titanian birds; after thirty- two years, his mother dies and Constant manages to reassemble Salo. Using the part delivered so many years previously by Chrono, Constant repairs the Tralfamadorian saucer. Salo returns Constant to Earth where he dies of exposure in wintertime Indianapolis while awaiting an overdue city bus and as he passes away, he experiences a pleasant hallucination secretly implanted in his mind by a compassionate Salo. 

=====

A famous author, Abraham Cady, stands trial for libel. In his book The Holocaust, he named eminent surgeon Sir Adam Kelno as one of the Jadwiga concentration camp's most sadistic inmate/doctors. Cady wrote the book after discovering the Jadwiga concentration camp was the site of his family's extermination. Kelno has denied his involvement in sadistic practices, and asserts he worked hard to save prisoners, at great personal risk. Furious at his depiction by Cady, Kelno brings libel charges against him. In the end, Kelno wins his case but is awarded one half-penny, the smallest coin of the realm, because his past actions were found to have been so bad that the minor inaccuracies in the book could not have damaged his reputation further. 

=====

The series takes place on Mobius, a planet mostly populated by anthropomorphic animals. The Kingdom of Acorn, based within the city of Mobotropolis, was at war with an unseen enemy. The King recruited a human scientist, Julian, to build war machines to end the war with a victory. However, during peacetime, Julian and his nephew Snively launched a coup d'état against the kingdom. The King is banished to another dimension, the Void, and the citizens are captured and transformed into robot slaves, through a machine called the Roboticizer. Julian renames himself as Dr. Robotnik, now the ruthless dictator of Mobius. Mobotropolis is renamed Robotropolis, a polluted, industrial cityscape. Robotnik finds himself at odds with a small collective group called the Freedom Fighters, who operate out of the hidden woodland village Knothole. They are led by Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Sally Acorn, the King's sole heir. Other members include Sonic's best friend Miles "Tails" Prower, computer genius Rotor the Walrus, French coyote Antoine Depardieu, half-roboticized Bunnie Rabbot, and Dulcy the Dragon. They act as a rebellion against Robotnik's regime. Sonic uses the Power Rings to gain a temporary boost in power. Both the rings and the Roboticizer were designed by Sonic's uncle Chuck, one of the victims of the machine. Early on in the series, Sonic uses a Power Ring to restore Uncle Chuck's free will in his mechanical body. Chuck decides to act as a spy for the Freedom Fighters, operating from within the city. He is eventually discovered by Robotnik in the second season, and escapes to Knothole. Sally searches for her father during the series. He is found alive within the Void, shared with a sorcerer, Naugus, who was also imprisoned within the dimension by Robotnik. Naugus attempts to escape the Void, but both he and the King discover their bodies turn to crystal whilst back on Mobius, and are forced to return to their prison. The heroes gain other allies, including Ari the Ram, and Lupe, leader of the elusive wolf pack. In the series' sole two-part episode, "Blast to the Past", Sonic and Sally use the Time Stones to travel back in time, in an attempt to prevent Robotnik's planned takeover. They fail, but manage to get their younger selves to the safety of Knothole, with help from Sally's nanny Rosie Woodchuck. In the series finale, Robotnik builds the Doomsday Project to destroy the population. The Freedom Fighters launch a full scale attack against Robotnik, with Sonic and Sally destroying the Doomsday Project with the power of the Deep Power Stones. Robotnik is killed, and the Freedom Fighters declare victory, with Sonic and Sally kissing. In a final scene, Snively becomes the main antagonist, accompanied by an unseen ally with red eyes. Ben Hurst, one of the series' writers, confirmed the figure was Naugus. 

=====

Kuzco is the young, selfish, and overly-pampered emperor of the Inca Empire who lives the high-life and routinely punishes those who displease him, such as having an elderly man defenestrated for the crime of "throwing off his groove". As his eighteenth birthday approaches, Kuzco meets with Pacha, a kind peasant and village leader, and tells him that he plans to demolish his hilltop family home to build himself a lavish summer home called "Kuzcotopia". Pacha protests, but is quickly dismissed. That evening at dinner, Kuzco's treacherous advisor, Yzma, plans to poison him and rule the empire in his place, but due to a mislabeled vial, her muscular but clumsy henchman Kronk Pepikrankenitz inadvertently spikes Kuzco's wine with the wrong potion, turning him into a llama. After knocking Kuzco out, Yzma orders Kronk to dispose of him in a river. However, after doing so, Kronk has a crisis of conscience at the last second and saves Kuzco, only for him to end up on a cart belonging to Pacha. Upon returning home, Pacha does not tell his family about Kuzco's decision. After awakening from the bag on the cart and scaring Pacha, Kuzco blames Pacha for his transformation and orders Pacha to return him to the palace. Pacha agrees, but only if Kuzco agrees to build Kuzcotopia elsewhere. Kuzco refuses the offer and decides to go by himself against Pacha's warnings, but quickly ends up getting chased through the jungle by a pack of black jaguars. Pacha arrives to rescue him, and extends his offer a second time, to which Kuzco seemingly accepts. The two survive many ordeals in the jungle, and Pacha finds that Kuzco has a good side to him underneath his selfishness. Meanwhile, Yzma takes the throne, but is angered to learn from Kronk that Kuzco is still alive, so the two set out to find him. The next day, the pairs arrive at a jungle diner at the same time, unaware of each other's presence. While Kuzco complains to the cook, Pacha overhears Yzma's plan and attempts to warn Kuzco when he returns, but he doesn't believe Pacha, thinking he is beloved by his people, and reveals that he intended to renege on his promise to spare Pacha's home. However, Kuzco soon overhears Yzma's and Kronk's plot of attempting to kill him and learns that no one in his kingdom misses him due to his selfishness. Feeling guilty and unwanted, Kuzco leaves the diner on his own, planning on living out the rest of his life as a normal llama. Pacha catches up, still willing to help Kuzco return to normal after knowing his life is in danger. Kuzco reconciles with him before they set off to Pacha's house for supplies. Upon arriving, Yzma is already there, searching for the two. Pacha has his family delay Yzma, giving him and Kuzco a head-start back to the palace, intending to enter Yzma's lab and find a potion to reverse the effects of the llama potion. However, they are ambushed by Yzma and Kronk, who somehow made it back ahead of Kuzco and Pacha. Yzma then orders Kronk to kill the duo, but Kronk has another crisis of conscience, and cannot bring himself to do so. Yzma insults him, and his cooking, prompting him to switch sides and he attempts to betray her, but she drops him down a trapdoor. She then summons the palace guards and claims that Pacha and Kuzco murdered the emperor, forcing them to flee with an armful of vials containing various animal potions (Yzma deliberately knocked them all to the floor so that Kuzco and Pacha could not tell which one is correct), which they use to transform Kuzco during the chase. Pacha also knocks a table of flasks containing other animal potions into the pursuing guards, turning them into various animals. As they are cornered on the ledges of a giant wall structure, they are left with two remaining vials. Yzma and Kuzco struggle over the vials, accidentally crushing one and transforming Yzma into a small kitten. Pacha and Kuzco use teamwork to reach the other vial, but Yzma in her kitten form, manages to intercept it. She starts to take the potion herself, but is unintentionally defeated by Kronk, who emerges from a previously unknown door. Pacha retrieves the vial, and gives it to Kuzco, who expresses his gratitude to Pacha, and drinks the potion. Some time later, a restored Kuzco, having reflected on the consequences of his selfishness and made amends, takes Pacha's suggestion of moving Kuzcotopia over to a neighboring and unoccupied hill. Kuzco then joins Pacha and his family at his modest and smaller resort. Meanwhile, Kronk becomes a scout den leader, his den including Pacha's kids and Yzma, still in kitten form. 

=====

A willful, disorganized teenage girl, Annabel Andrews, awakens one Friday morning to find herself in the body of her mother, with whom she had argued the previous night. Suddenly in charge of taking care of the New York family's affairs and her younger brother Ben (whom Annabel has not-so-affectionately nicknamed "Ape Face" and said "He's so neat, it's revolting!"), and growing increasingly worried about the disappearance of "Annabel", who appeared to be herself in the morning but has gone missing after leaving the Andrews' home, she enlists the help of her neighbor and childhood friend, Boris, though without telling him about her identity crisis. As the day wears on and Annabel has a series of increasingly bizarre and frustrating adventures, she becomes gradually more appreciative of how difficult her mother's life is, and learns, to her surprise, that Ben idolizes her, and Boris is actually named Morris, but has a problem with chronic congestion (at least around Annabel) leading him to nasally pronounce ms and ns as bs and ds. The novel races towards its climax and Ben also disappears, apparently having gone off with a pretty girl whom Boris did not recognize, but Ben appeared to trust without hesitation. In the climax and dénouement, Annabel becomes overwhelmed by the difficulties of her situation, apparent disappearance of her mother, loss of the children, and the question of how her odd situation came about and when/whether it will be resolved. Finally, it is revealed that Annabel's mother herself caused them to switch bodies through some unspecified means, and the mysterious teen beauty who took Ben was Mrs. Andrews in Annabel's body (to which she is restored) made much more attractive by a makeover Mrs. Andrews gave the body while using it, including the removal of Annabel's braces, an appointment Annabel had forgotten about (and would have missed, had she been the one in her body that day). 

=====

The point of divergence occurs on September 10, 1862, during the American Civil War. In actual history, a C.S. Army messenger lost a copy of General Robert E. Lee's Special Order 191, which detailed Lee's plans for the Invasion of the North. The order was soon found by U.S. soldiers, and using them, George McClellan was able to fight the Army of Northern Virginia to a draw at the Battle of Antietam, after which it returned to Virginia. In How Few Remain, the orders are instead recovered by a trailing C.S. soldier. McClellan is caught by surprise, enabling Lee to lead the Army of Northern Virginia towards Philadelphia. Lee forces McClellan into battle on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania and destroys the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Camp Hill on October 1. Lee goes on to capture Philadelphia, earning the Confederate States of America diplomatic recognition from both the United Kingdom and France, thus winning the war (which is known as the War of Secession in the alternate timeline) and independence from the United States on November 4, 1862. Kentucky, having been conquered by C.S. forces shortly after the Battle of Camp Hill as a result of Lincoln diverting key troops there to Pennsylvania (who did not arrive in time to fight at Camp Hill), joins the eleven original C.S. states after the war's conclusion, and the Confederacy is also given the Indian Territory (our timeline's state of Oklahoma, later the State of Sequoyah in the SV timeline). But, as a compromise, the United States retains Missouri (despite proposals to divide it) and West Virginia. The Spanish island of Cuba is purchased by the C.S. in the late 1870s for $3,000,000, thus also becoming a C.S. state. Abraham Lincoln ends up losing the 1864 presidential election to the Democratic candidate (whose identity is never mentioned in the series) in a landslide. In the late 1860s, Russia offers to sell Alaska to the United States. However, the $7 million price tag is too much for the United States's eroded post-war economy (which collapsed in 1863). With that, Alaska remains a Russian territory. The C.S. makes agreeable treaties with the Indians in its domain, particularly those of the Indian Territory, ensuring their support for the new nation. The U.S. Army, freed up by the war's quick end, lets off steam by accelerating the U.S. settlement of the Great Plains and the West which also accelerated the Indian wars, crushing all hostile tribes by the early 1870s. (Except for the Comanche and Kiowa, who take full advantage of the new U.S.-C.S. border and manipulate the continuing hostility between the two nations to their own maximum benefit.) One result of this is that the Battle of Little Big Horn (1876 in our timeline) never happens, a divergence which will have consequences resonating throughout this series. In 1881, Republican James G. Blaine has ridden a hard-line platform of anti-Confederatism into the White House, having defeated Democratic incumbent Samuel J. Tilden in the 1880 presidential election. Both American nations have been sanctioning Indian raids into each other's territory. The international tension between the United States and the Confederate States peaks when Confederate President James Longstreet, desiring a Pacific coast for the Confederacy so that the South can have a transcontinental railroad for itself, purchases the northwestern provinces of Sonora and Chihuahua from the financially strapped Second Mexican Empire (which is still ruled by Maximilian) for CS $3,000,000. Blaine uses the "coerced" purchase as a casus belli, leading to the commencement of what will later become known as the "Second Mexican War". 

=====

The story starts with the philologist Elwin Ransom, some years after his return from Mars at the end of Out of the Silent Planet, receiving a new mission from the Oyarsa (the angelic ruler) of Mars. Ransom summons narrator- Lewis to his country home. Ransom explains to Lewis that he (Ransom) is to travel to Perelandra (Venus), where he is to counter some kind of attack launched by Earth's Black Archon (Satan). Ransom is transported in a casket- like vessel seemingly made of ice, which contains only himself. He gets Lewis to blindfold him so the sunlight will not blind him once he travels beyond the earth's atmosphere. He does not wear any clothes on the journey as Oyarsa tells him clothes are unnecessary on Venus. He returns to Earth over a year later and is met by Lewis and another friend. The remainder of the story is told from Ransom's point of view, with Lewis acting as interlocutor and occasional commentator. Ransom arrives in Venus after a journey in which he is surrounded by bright colours; the box dissolves leaving Ransom on what appears to be an oceanic paradise. One day is about 23 Earth hours, in contrast to the (roughly) 24 and 25-hour days of Earth and Mars. The sky is golden but opaque. Hence the sun cannot be seen, daylight is somewhat dimmer than on Earth, and the night is pitch black with no stars visible. The planet is covered, so far as Ransom can at first see, by a sweet-water ocean, which is dotted with floating rafts of vegetation. These rafts resemble islands, to the extent of having plant and animal life upon them, including a kind of dragon-like creature encountered by Ransom early in his visit. However, as the rafts have no geologic foundations, they are in a constant state of motion. The planet's sole observable geological feature is a mountain called the Fixed Land. Ransom soon meets the Queen of the planet, whose name is later revealed to be Tinidril; she is a carefree being who soon accepts him as a friend. Unlike the inhabitants of Mars in Out of the Silent Planet, she resembles a human in physical appearance with the exception of her skin colour, green; this is said to be the preferred form assumed by sentient creatures as a result of the incarnation of Maleldil, the second person of God, in human form. She and the King of the planet, who is largely unseen until the end, are the only human inhabitants and are the Eve and Adam of their world. They live on the floating raft-islands and are forbidden to sleep on the "Fixed Land". The rafts or floating islands are indeed Paradise, not only in the sense that they provide a pleasant and care-free life but also in the sense that Ransom is for weeks and months naked in the presence of a beautiful naked woman without once lusting after her or being tempted to seduce her. This Paradise changes when Professor Weston arrives in a spaceship and lands in a part of the ocean quite close to the Fixed Land. He at first announces to Ransom that he is a reformed man, but appears to still be in search of power. Instead of the strictly materialist attitude he displayed when first meeting Ransom, he asserts he had become aware of the existence of spiritual beings and pledges allegiance to what he calls the "Life-Force". Ransom, however, warns against Weston's position that not all spirituality is inherently good, and Weston, after a fit of pride, succumbs to full demonic possession. In this state, the possessed Weston finds the Queen and tries to tempt her into defying Maleldil's law by spending a night on the Fixed Land. Ransom tries to counter this. Well versed in the Bible and Christian theology, Ransom realises that if the pristine Queen, who has never heard of Evil, succumbs to the tempter's arguments, the Fall of Man will be re-enacted on Perelandra. He struggles through day after day of lengthy arguments tempting the Queen to spiritual pride, as the demonic Weston shows super-human brilliance in debate (though when "off-duty" he displays moronic, asinine behaviour and petty cruelty) and moreover appears never to need sleep. With the demonic Weston on the verge of winning, the desperate Ransom senses in the night what he gradually realises is a Divine command to battle the Tempter physically, hand to hand. The bookish Ransom is afraid, and debates for hours with the divine inner voice. A curious twist is introduced here; although Ransom knows that his name derives historically from "Ranolf's Son", God reminds him that the Passion of Jesus was a ransom for humanity, and Ransom's name was actually arranged to foreshadow his present role. Inspired, Ransom decides to confront the Tempter outright. With no weapons to hand, Ransom attacks his opponent with clumsy punches and kicks. Weston's body is defeated despite the Tempter's superior guile, and he flees. Ultimately Ransom chases Weston over the ocean on the backs of giant friendly fish. During a feigned truce, the "real" Weston temporarily re-emerges to recount his experience of Hell, the horror of being "digested" into the Devil, losing all independent existence. The moment Ransom is distracted by horror and pity, the demon takes Ransom by surprise and nearly drowns him. The chase continues into a cavern, where Ransom seemingly kills Weston's body and, believing his quest over, searches for the surface. Weston's body, horribly injured but still animated by the Tempter, follows him. When they meet for the last time in another cavern, Ransom defeats a psychological assault by a gruesome apparition, and finally throws Weston into the volcanic flames. Returning to the surface, Ransom recuperates from his injuries, except for a bite on his heel which continues bleeding for the rest of his life. Ransom carves a memorial inscription for Weston, to commemorate his scientific achievements and pioneering space travel, though also recording his surrender to the Devil. Ransom meets the King and Queen together with the Oyéresu of Mars and Venus, the latter of whom transfers dominion of the planet to the King and Queen. All the characters celebrate the prevention of a second biblical "Fall" and the beginning of a utopian paradise in this new world. The story climaxes with Ransom's vision of "The Great Dance": the exchange of higher and lower, as when an advisor gives power to a royal child. This is an allegory of life, and possibly of the nature of God, and alludes to the journey of Dante in the Divine Comedy. His mission finished, Ransom reluctantly returns to Earth; his new mission is to continue to fight evil on its home territory: the Earth. 

=====

Pathways casts the player as a member of a US Army Special Forces team sent on a mission to the Yucatán Peninsula. On May 5, 1994, a diplomat from the alien race known as the Jjaro appeared to the President of the United States and informed him that on May 13, an ancient godlike being sleeping beneath a pyramid would awaken and destroy the Earth. The only way to prevent this catastrophe is to prevent the god from awakening. The eight-man Special Forces team carries a nuclear weapon, with the goal of entering the ancient pyramid, descending to the bottom level where the god sleeps, and activating the bomb to stun the god and bury it under tons of rock. Before the game begins, the player character's parachute fails to open. Awakening hours later, the character finds almost all his equipment inoperable. Reaching the pyramid on foot hours after the rest of the team entered the structure, the player must complete the team's mission before the god awakens in five days. In the pyramid, the player finds bodies of squad-mates, the remains of Spanish- speaking treasure hunters, and fallen members of a Nazi expedition from the 1930s who were looking for a secret weapon but never returned. Additional plot elements can be revealed by speaking to these dead, enabled by an item attainable early in the game, the yellow crystal. The game's ending changes depending on whether the player has a radio beacon to call for extraction, and when the nuclear device is set to explode. Forgetting to set the bomb, or setting it to explode at any time past the awakening of the dreaming god, results in Earth's destruction. The device's detonation before the player reaches a minimum safe distance results in a pyrrhic victory. The most favorable endings are achieved by leaving the pyramid with a beacon for evacuation at least twenty game minutes before the device is set to go off; if the game ends with enough time for the player to escape on foot, the player survives without a beacon. 

=====

A test explosion of the first atomic plutonium bomb is planned at a military site in Desert Rock, Nevada. When it does not detonate as expected, Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) receives orders to keep his men in the protective trench. Moments later, an unidentified small civilian aircraft crash-lands near the bomb site, and Glenn runs into the detonation area to rescue the pilot. Once in the detonation area, the bomb goes off, and Glenn is caught in the radiation. Surviving the blast, but suffering from third-degree burns over almost all of his body, Glenn is treated by specialist Dr. Paul Linstrom (William Hudson) and military scientist Dr. Eric Coulter (Larry Thor) at the army base hospital. Glenn's fiancée, Carol Forrest (Cathy Downs), anxiously awaits a prognosis, but Linstrom refrains from telling her that the consensus is that Glenn is extremely unlikely to survive. The next morning, however, Linstrom and Coulter are stunned to discover that Glenn's burns have completely healed. That evening, Carol is prohibited from seeing him, and she learns that he has been moved to an army rehabilitation and research center in Summit, Nevada. She drives there and is admitted entry, and upon entering his room, she faints in horror when she sees he has mutated into a giant about 16 feet tall. The next day Linstrom tells Carol that Glenn's exposure to the plutonium blast has caused his old cells to stop dying, and his new cells to multiply at an accelerated rate, resulting in his growing proportionately 8 to 10 feet in height in one day. Linstrom admits that he and Coulter do not know if they can stop Glenn's growth, and that if they don't, he will continue to grow until he dies. The following day, he is at first frightened, then deeply disturbed. Carol sees him the next morning to comfort him, but he is now more than 22 feet tall, and distant and morose. While the public knows that he survived the explosion, the military has kept the truth of his condition secret. As Glenn's body continues to increase in size (now at 30 feet tall) Linstrom orders him moved to a tent large enough to provide shelter and recommends that Carol spend time with him. Despite her encouragement, he is angry and bitter. Linstrom eventually reveals that his heart is growing at only half the rate of his body and soon will be unable to support his enormous size and weight. That night, he loses his temper and shouts at Carol to leave him alone. The following morning, as Coulter reports to Linstrom that he may have found a solution to the phenomenal growth, Glenn disappears. The military, headed by Colonel Hallock (James Seay), conducts a 10-mile-wide search for the now 50-foot-tall Glenn, but with no results. When Carol asks Linstrom if she can help in their search, he cautions her that Glenn's condition may be affecting his mind. Coulter reveals that he has created a special syringe filled with a serum for Glenn's bone marrow that will stop his growth. Meanwhile, the local news relays that a "giant man" has been spotted approaching Las Vegas. As the military heads there, Glenn, now over 60 feet tall and confused, is drawn to the Vegas Strip. He wreaks havoc on various casinos, and after a policeman fires at him, he hurls a palm tree at the crowd that has formed. When the police become alarmed by his behavior, they begin firing at him, enraging him. He completely destroys the Pioneer Club's Vegas Vic sign, then heads toward Boulder Dam as military helicopters track his movements. Linstrom, Carol, and Coulter attempt to intercept Hallock's troops. After landing at the dam, Coulter and Linstrom take the enormous syringe and plunge it into Glenn's ankle. He removes it and spears Coulter with it, killing him. Glenn then picks up Carol and starts across the dam. Using a bullhorn to amplify his message, Linstrom pleads with him to spare her, and although he is disoriented, he complies. Once she is free, Hallock orders his men to open fire, causing Glenn to tumble into the Colorado River to his apparent death. 

=====

Michel is a youthful, dangerous criminal who models himself on the film persona of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car in Marseille, Michel shoots and kills a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to an American love interest, Patricia, a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the boulevards of Paris. The ambivalent Patricia unwittingly hides him in her apartment as he simultaneously tries to seduce her and call in a loan to fund their escape to Italy. Patricia says she is pregnant, probably with Michel's child. She learns that Michel is on the run when questioned by the police. Eventually she betrays him, but before the police arrive, she tells Michel what she has done. He is somewhat resigned to a life in prison, and does not try to escape at first. The police shoot him in the street, and after running along the block, he dies "à bout de souffle" ("out of breath"). 

=====

The novel explores an unusual connection between molecular genetics and quantum computing, with criticism of some of what it considers the excesses of postmodernism. However, most of the novel focuses on future south- east Asian politics (Egan criticizes Indonesian imperialism and Australian treatment of refugees), repressed childhood guilt, evolutionary biology and academic life. As often in Egan's books, there is some focus on sexuality: this is one of the few times the lead character is gay. 

=====

Episodes were self-contained, although there was continuity within the series, and sometimes a reference to a previous episode might be made. A normal episode consisted of Sub Lt Phillips, scheming Chief Petty Officer Pertwee, and bemused Lt. Murray trying to get out of trouble they created for themselves without their direct superior, Commander (later Captain) "Thunderguts" Povey finding out. Scenes frequently featured a string of eccentric characters, often played by Ronnie Barker or Jon Pertwee. Over the course of the programme Lt Murray marries Admiral Ffont-Bittocks' daughter Rita. The Republic of Potarneyland, a country situated somewhere on the Indian subcontinent, is featured in several episodes. Over the course of the series, it is revealed that Potarneyland had recently been granted independence from Great Britain, and had joined NATO because the Potanis considered it to be a "free gift scheme". During Series 3 of The Navy Lark, a Potarneyland frigate, the Poppadom, appears in several episodes manned by various Potani officers voiced by Michael Bates and Ronnie Barker. 

=====

According to the Prefatory Notes to Volume 5 of the Colonial Records of North Carolina, the process of determining the boundary between North and South Carolina began in 1720 "when the purpose to erect a third Province in Carolina, with Savannah for its northern boundary" began. On 8 January 1730 an agreement between the two colonies said for the border "to begin 30 miles southwest of the Cape Fear river, and to be run at that parallel distance the whole course of said river;" The next June Governor Robert Johnson of South Carolina said the border should start 30 miles southwest of the source of the Cape Fear "due west as far as the South Sea", unless the "Waccamaw river lyes [sic] within 30 miles of the Cape Fear river," which would make the Waccamaw the boundary. North Carolina agreed to this until the discovery that the Cape Fear headwaters were very close to Virginia, which would not have "permitted any extension on the part of North Carolina to the westward." In 1732, Governor George Burrington of North Carolina stated in Timothy's Southern Gazette that territory north of the Waccamaw was in North Carolina, to which Johnson replied that South Carolina claimed the land. Johnson also said that when the two met before the Board of Trade in London two years earlier, Burrington had "insisted that the Waccamaw should be the boundary from its mouth to its head," while South Carolina agreed the border should be located from the mouth, not the source. Johnson said this was "only a mistake in wording it." Both Carolinas selected commissioners to survey the line between them. The plan called for the line to run northwest to 35 degrees latitude, unless the Pee Dee River was reached first, in which case it would run along the Pee Dee to 35 degrees north. Then the line would run west to Catawba town, though if the town were north of the line, the line was to run around Catawba to keep it in South Carolina. In May 1735, the surveyors went from the Cape Fear westward 30 miles along the coast. Then they turned northwest and marked the location with stakes. The surveyors agreed to meet again on 18 September. However, only the North Carolina team returned at that time, extending the line northwest . The South Carolina team arrived in October and followed the previous line for only because they had not been paid. A deputy surveyor marked where the Pee Dee crossed the 35th parallel. An extension of the line in 1737 ran to a stake in a meadow. However, the stake placed at the endpoint of the survey was too far south. In 1764, a second extension ran westward. In 1772, after making adjustments to keep the Catawba Indians in South Carolina, "extended in a due west course from the confluence of the north and south forks of the Catawba River to Tryon Mountain." However, this extension was based on the erroneous position of the 1737 stake, removing from South Carolina. Joseph Caldwell, president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that the line west of the Pee Dee did not run along the 35th parallel, but 12 miles to the south. However, the western part of the line ran far enough to the north to make up for the difference. West of this point the border was shifted to run north of the 35th parallel so that the total areas of the states would return to what was intended, although the accuracy of this part of the survey was marred by a magnetic anomaly in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. North Carolina did not agree to the line of 1772 until 1813. A 1905 survey determined the border between Scotland County, North Carolina and Marlboro County, South Carolina. A 1928 survey decided the border between Horry County, South Carolina and Brunswick and Columbus counties in North Carolina. 

=====

The two main characters of the book are the narrator, Sal Paradise, and his friend Dean Moriarty, much admired for his carefree attitude and sense of adventure, a free-spirited maverick eager to explore all kicks and an inspiration and catalyst for Sal's travels. The novel contains five parts, three of them describing road trips with Moriarty. The narrative takes place in the years 1947 to 1950, is full of Americana, and marks a specific era in jazz history, "somewhere between its Charlie Parker Ornithology period and another period that began with Miles Davis." The novel is largely autobiographical, Sal being the alter ego of the author and Dean standing for Neal Cassady. 

=====

The life of Vernon Little, a normal teenager who lives in Martirio, Texas, falls apart when his best friend, Jesus Navarro, murders their classmates in the schoolyard before killing himself, and Vernon is taken in for questioning. He cooperates with Deputy Vaine Gurie, because he had been running an errand for a teacher, Mr Nuckles, and is not involved in the massacre. The perception of Vernon's innocence weakens when his Mom's best friend, the food-obsessed Palmyra (Pam) arrives and, against Vernon's better judgment, whisks him off to Bar-B-Chew Barn, allowing the police to claim he is a flight risk. Eulalio ("Lally") Ledesma, supposedly a CNN reporter, ingratiates himself to Vernon's mother, Doris, and promises to help Vernon "shift the paradigm" of his story. Instead, Lally betrays Vernon, who is returned to jail pending a psychiatric analysis. When the court-appointed shrink, Dr Goosens, touches him inappropriately, Vernon leaves, knowing it can wreck hopes for bail. Vernon's bail hearing suggests a possible alibi and no grounds for holding him, so Vernon is released as Goosens' outpatient, subject to regular sessions. Vernon, however, is intent on living out the movie Against All Odds, repelled by Lally not only betraying him again with a video interview with Nuckles, but also by insinuating himself into Vernon's family life - including sharing Mom's bedroom. Learning a posse intends to search Keeter's field, where his rifle is hidden, Vernon races to beat them, but meets a stranger who reveals Lally is a fraud. Vernon confirms it by phoning Lally's blind, neglected mother, and plans how to get her to talk with Mom. Vernon cannot control his temper well enough to make the evidence stick, however, but Lally worries enough to bail out and move in with her friend Leona. To pacify Mom, Vernon lies about finding a job, but when he skips a session with Goosens and word comes that his rifle has been found, he extorts money from an old pervert by photographing him with Ella Bouchard, a local girl and catches a bus to San Antonio. There he phones Taylor, his crush, and meets her in Houston where she attends college. However, their meeting ends when Taylor turns out to be Leona's cousin. Fast talk and money get Vernon into Mexico without identification, and a truck driver, Pelayo, takes him to his dream world on the beach near Acapulco. Vernon awakens on his 16th birthday on top of the world, but plunges when Taylor's wired $600 does not arrive. Instead, against all odds, Taylor comes in person, takes him to a fancy hotel, and uses her wiles to get him to admit he is a murderer. Not suspecting a string of murders across Central Texas are attributed to him or that Lally has recruited Taylor, Vernon gives an out-of-context confession. Lally's people seize Vernon, turn him over to Federal marshals, and he lands in the Harris County lock-up for the summer. In the fall, Vernon's trial is televised, with court officials, witnesses, and Vernon being made up for the cameras. Vernon trusts the system implicitly. His lawyer exposes Goosens' criminal behavior, discrediting his testimony for the State, and Taylor and Lally are seen entrapping Vernon. Vernon's attempt to tell the whole truth fails, however, when the State produces Pelayo's affidavit, which provides no alibi, because Vernon uses an alias in Mexico. Nuckles alone can clear Vernon when he testifies, but explosively calls him a murderer. Vernon is cleared of the Central Texas rampage but convicted of the schoolyard slayings and is sent to Death Row. Lally has expanded his multimedia empire to include the ultimate reality show – an execution lottery. An axe murderer turned popular preacher helps Vernon figure out his feelings towards Mom, advises him to watch animal and human behavior and to realize Vernon is God. Vernon struggles to do this as he survives several votes, but eventually his turn comes. He thinks about what presents he can give the various people in his life. He makes kind phone calls to people able to pull together an operation that destroys Lally and proves Vernon's innocence. A pardon comes seconds before the deadly chemicals are to flow into his arm. The den also yields up Jesus' suicide note, condemning Goosens and Nuckles to prison for pedophilia. Vernon and Ella prepare for a vacation in Mexico, and everything in Martirio returns to normal. 

=====

The continuous 30 levels are divided into four areas; UAC Underground, UAC's Starport (Hellish Outpost), City, and Hell. Immediately following the events in Doom, the player once again assumes the role of Doomguy. After defeating the Spider Mastermind, the demons of hell open a portal to Earth for the marine, as he has "proven too tough for Hell to contain". After returning to Earth, the marine finds that it has also been invaded by the demons, who have killed billions of people. The humans who survived the attack have developed a plan to build massive spaceships which will carry the remaining survivors into space. Unfortunately, Earth's only ground spaceport has been taken over by the demons, who placed a flame barrier over it, preventing any ships from leaving. The marine battles hordes of demons and is able to deactivate the force field, allowing the remaining humans to escape. Once all the survivors have escaped Earth, the marine is the only human left on the planet. Just as he sits down to await death, knowing that he saved humanity, the marine then receives an off-planet transmission from the survivors in orbit, who have managed to find out where the armies of Hell are coming from. The message reveals that the demonic base is in the center of the marine's own hometown. He then fights through the city until he reaches the base, but sees there is no way to stop the invasion on that side. He decides to step into the portal to try deactivating it from the other side, entering Hell. After fighting through the hordes of Hell, the marine reaches the location of the biggest demon he has ever seen, called the Icon of Sin (Baphomet). He kills the Icon of Sin by firing rockets into its exposed brain. Its death causes devastation on Hell, and the portal to Earth is sealed. The marine wonders where evil people will go when they die now that Hell has been destroyed, and reflects that rebuilding the world will be more fun than saving it as he begins his journey back home. 

=====

A message, carried by pointless albatross, arrives for Lord Vetinari from the Agatean Empire. The message explains that the Silver Horde (a group of aged barbarians introduced in Interesting Times, wherein they conquered the Empire, and led by Cohen the Barbarian, now the Emperor) have set out on a quest. The first hero of the Discworld, "Fingers" Mazda, stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind (analogous to Prometheus), and was chained to a rock to be torn open daily by a giant eagle as punishment. As the last heroes remaining on the Disc, the Silver Horde seek to return fire to the gods with interest, in the form of a large sled packed with explosive Agatean Thunder Clay. They plan to blow up the gods at their mountain home, Cori Celesti. With them is a whiny, terrified bard, whom they have kidnapped so that he can write the saga of their quest. Along the way, they are joined by Evil Harry Dread (the last Dark Lord) and Vena the Raven- haired (an elderly heroine who has now gone grey). The heroes are disillusioned with the way their lives have turned out—having conquered the Empire, they have nothing left to do but die in comfort—and are angry for having been allowed to grow old, rather than dying in battle as most of their friends did. They decided to go out on the quest after one of the Horde members choked to death on a cucumber. Evil Harry is just as angry; despite his efforts to give his opponents the sporting chance that an Evil Overlord should, they won't follow the Code by allowing him to escape in return. The Wizards of Unseen University explain to Lord Vetinari that blowing up Cori Celesti will destroy the Discworld by temporarily disrupting the Disc's magical field—the only thing holding the Disc together—so Vetinari organises an effort to stop the Horde. Since the Horde is already near the centre of the Discworld and the home of the gods, speed is of the essence. Vetinari recruits Leonard of Quirm, who designs the Discworld's second known spacecraft to slingshot under the Discworld and back around the top, landing on Cori Celesti. The vessel, named "The Kite" by Leonard, can carry only three people. Leonard of Quirm, Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson, and Rincewind are selected for the trip. The Librarian accidentally stumbles aboard as well, having fallen asleep behind some crates of equipment while loading The Kite. After a few mishaps, including landing on the moon (to replenish their oxygen supply after the Librarian's unexpected presence threatened to leave them without enough air to survive the trip) and nearly having their swamp dragon powered spaceship explode on them, they crash in a spectacular fashion at, or rather, into the main gate of Cori Celesti. Meanwhile, the Horde have already reached Cori Celesti. The gods allow them to sneak in disguised as gods themselves, despite (or perhaps because of) their having been betrayed to the gods by Evil Harry. The Horde suspect that the gods have been manipulating their entire quest. Fate challenges Cohen to roll a 7 on a standard 6-sided die. Cohen cheats Fate by slicing the die in-half in mid-air with his sword; the two halves land with the 6 and 1 both facing up. Cohen also notes that even if he doesn't succeed in killing the gods, someone will have tried, so someone will eventually try harder. Captain Carrot attempts to arrest the Horde, at which point the Horde arms the explosives. While initially intending to attack him, the Horde realise that as a single brave man outnumbered by his foes and trying to save the world, Carrot is a Hero (and probably a king in disguise), and so their defeat is certain. After Rincewind explains that the detonation will destroy the entire Discworld, the Horde grab the explosives and throw them—and themselves—off the mountain. As punishment for creating The Kite (which allowed humans to travel higher than the gods) and for not expressing belief in the gods, Leonard is ordered by the gods to paint the entire ceiling of the Temple of Small Gods with a spectacular mural of the whole world (despite Blind Io saying he would be satisfied with "a nice duck-egg blue with a few stars"). They impose a time limit of 10 years on the task—unassisted, "even with the scaffolding". (Leonard finishes the task in a few weeks.) Carrot asks for a boon to allow for the repairs of The Kite so that they can return to Ankh-Morpork. Rincewind asks for a blue balloon and the Librarian asks for some library supplies (and a red balloon) and manages to refrain from bouncing Blind Io's head on the ground after Io calls him 'a monkey'. The Horde's end is ambiguous. Valkyries come to take the heroes to the Halls of the Slain, where a feast has been prepared for them. Instead, the Silver Horde, refusing to accept their deaths, steal the valkyries' horses and set off to find other worlds to "do heroic stuff in." Death does not appear to them, as he often does when Discworld characters die, although he subsequently appears to Vena, and is evasive about whether he is "collecting". After the Horde leave with the Valkyries' horses, their first stop is to visit Mazda where he is being punished, cut off his chains, give him something to drink, and leave him a sword so that he may deal with his punisher. The bard, changed by his experience, composes a new style of saga, one with musical accompaniment, about it. 

=====

Best friends and nerds Lewis Skolnick and Gilbert Lowe enroll in Adams College to study computer science. The Alpha Betas, a fraternity that includes most of the Adams football team, carelessly burn down their own house and, urged by Coach Harris, take over the freshman dorms. Dean Ulich designates temporary living space in the gymnasium and allows the freshmen to rush the fraternities. Lewis, Gilbert, and several other nerds fail to join fraternities, but are able to secure a dilapidated house near campus and repair it as a residence. The Alpha Betas, led by star quarterback Stan Gable, are irked by the nerds' success, and Stan sets his fellow members to pull pranks against the nerds. The nerds try to get campus police to help, but the campus cops are constrained by the Greek Council that adjudicates all such pranks, of which Stan is currently president. The nerds decide to seek membership on the Greek Council by joining a national fraternity. The only one that considers them is the black fraternity Lambda Lambda Lambda (Tri-Lambs), led by U.N. Jefferson. Jefferson is wary of their application but agrees to a probationary period. The nerds set up a large party with the Omega Mu sorority, similarly made up of nerds, including Gilbert's girlfriend Judy, and invite Jefferson to attend. The party is dull until Booger provides them with high quality marijuana. The Alpha Betas and the Pi Delta Pis, the sorority which Stan's girlfriend Betty Childs belongs to, then disrupt the party by bringing and releasing pigs. The nerds exact revenge on both groups by pulling similar pranks. Jefferson is impressed with the nerds' tenacity and grants them full membership. The nerds then appeal to the Council, but Gable is dismissive. The nerds realize the only way to get the Council to help is to put one of their own in as president, which they can do by winning the Greek Games during Homecoming. Partnering with the Omega Mus and using their extensive knowledge, the Tri-Lambs compete strongly with the Alpha Betas/Pi Delta Pis during the athletic events. At the charity fundraiser, the nerds heavily outsell the Alpha Betas by offering pies with naked pictures of Betty and other Pi Delta Pis on the bottom. During this, Lewis, who has fallen in love with Betty, steals Stan's costume and tricks Betty into engaging in sexual intercourse with him, hooking up with her. She is surprised when Lewis reveals his identity, but she admits he was "wonderful" and is not angry. Finally, the nerds dominate the musical competition with a techno-computer- driven musical production, winning the overall games. Lewis immediately nominates Gilbert as the new Council president. Coach Harris lambastes the Alpha Betas for losing to the nerds, and Stan leads them in vandalizing the Tri-Lamb house. The nerds become despondent, and Gilbert decides to barge into the middle of the Homecoming Pep Rally to address his complaints. The Alpha Betas try to stop him, but Jefferson and a group of national Tri-Lambs arrive to intimidate the Alpha Betas, giving Gilbert the opportunity to give a rousing speech about standing up to discrimination. Lewis and the other Tri- Lambs, many alumni, and Betty, who announces she is "in love with a nerd", join in cheering Gilbert, soundly shaming the Alpha Betas. Dean Ulich instructs Coach Harris that the Tri-Lambs will now live in the Alpha Beta house, while the Alpha Betas will live in the gym until they can repair the Tri-Lamb house. 

=====

Nearing the end of a long mission exploring deep space, the spacecraft USS Palomino is returning to Earth. The crew consists of Captain Dan Holland, First Officer Lieutenant Charlie Pizer, journalist Harry Booth, ESP-sensitive scientist Dr. Kate McCrae, the expedition's civilian leader Dr. Alex Durant and the diminutive robot V.I.N.CENT ("Vital Information Necessary CENTralized"). The Palomino crew discovers a black hole in space with a large spaceship nearby, somehow defying the hole's massive gravitational pull. The ship is identified as the long-lost USS Cygnus, the ship McCrae's father served aboard when it went missing. Deciding to investigate, the Palomino encounters a mysterious null gravity field surrounding the Cygnus. The Palomino becomes damaged when it drifts away from the Cygnus and into the black hole's intense gravity field, but the ship manages to move back to the Cygnus and finds itself able to dock with it. The Cygnus appears abandoned. The Palomino crew cautiously boards the Cygnus and soon encounters the ship's commander, Dr. Hans Reinhardt, a brilliant scientist. Aided by a crew of faceless, black-robed android drones and his sinister-looking robot Maximilian, Reinhardt explains that he has lived all alone on the Cygnus for years. After the ship encountered a meteor field and was disabled, he ordered the human crew to return to Earth, but Kate's father chose to remain aboard and has since died. Reinhardt then reveals that he has spent the past 20 years studying the black hole and intends to fly the Cygnus through it. Only Durant believes it is possible and asks to accompany Reinhardt on the trip. The rest of the Palomino crew grows suspicious of the faceless drones' human-like behavior: Booth sees a robot limping and Holland witnesses a robot funeral and discovers the Cygnus crew's personal items in the ship's living quarters. Old B.O.B. ("BiO-sanitation Battalion"), a battered early-model robot similar to V.I.N.CENT, explains that the faceless drones are in fact the human crew, who mutinied when Reinhardt refused to return to Earth and had been lobotomized and "reprogrammed" by Reinhardt to serve him. McCrae's father had led the mutiny and was killed. Using telepathy, V.I.N.CENT tells Kate the truth about what happened. When Kate tells Durant, he removes the reflective faceplate from a "drone" to reveal the zombie-like face of a crew member. Appalled, Durant tries to flee the bridge with Kate, but Maximilian kills him. Reinhardt takes Kate prisoner, ordering his sentry robots to take her to the ship's hospital bay to be lobotomized. Just as the process begins, Holland, V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B. rescue Kate. Meanwhile, fearing the situation is escalating dangerously, Booth attempts to escape alone in the Palomino. Reinhardt orders the craft shot down, but the weapons fire sends the ship crashing into the Cygnus, destroying its port-side anti-gravity forcefield generator. A meteor storm then destroys the starboard generator. Without its null-gravity bubble, the Cygnus starts to break apart under the black hole's huge gravitational forces. Reinhardt and the Palomino survivors separately plan their escape aboard a small probe ship used to study the black hole. Reinhardt orders Maximilian to go and prepare the probe ship, but then a large viewscreen falls on Reinhardt, pinning him down. His lobotomized crew stand motionless as he struggles helplessly, completely oblivious to everything but the tasks they have been programmed to do. Maximilian confronts the others and fatally damages B.O.B. before he himself is damaged by V.I.N.CENT and drifts out of the broken ship into the black hole. Holland, Pizer, McCrae and V.I.N.CENT reach the probe ship and launch, only to discover the controls locked onto a flight path that takes them into the black hole. In a surreal sequence inside the black hole which resembles Heaven and Hell, Reinhardt becomes merged with Maximilian in a burning, hellish landscape populated by dark-robed spectres resembling the Cygnus drones. Next, a floating, angelic figure with long flowing hair passes through a cathedral-like arched crystal tunnel. The probe ship carrying Holland, Pizer, McCrae and V.I.N.CENT then emerges from a white hole and is last seen flying through space towards a planet near a bright star. 

=====

The Enterprise makes contact with a Tamarian ship in orbit around the planet El-Adrel. The Tamarians had been previously contacted by the Federation, but could not be understood — although the universal translator can translate their words, they communicate by using brief allusions to their history and mythology to convey thoughts and intentions. Likewise, the Tamarians cannot understand Picard's straightforward use of language. The Tamarian captain, Dathon, has himself and Captain Picard transported to the planet's surface. The Tamarians then cast a scattering field that blocks further transporter use. Dathon utters the phrase "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" and tosses Picard a dagger. The next morning, Dathon comes running and Picard realizes there is a hostile predator in the area. Picard begins to understand the Tamarians' jargon when he recognizes one allegory as a tactic to fight the beast. The two attempt to battle the beast together, but the Enterprises unsuccessful attempt to beam up Picard prevents him from participating at a crucial moment. Dathon is severely wounded. On the Enterprise, First Officer Riker and the crew struggle to understand the aliens' language. They make several efforts to rescue the Captain, all foiled by the Tamarians. While tending to Dathon's wounds, Picard slowly deduces that Darmok and Jalad were warriors who met on the island of Tanagra and were forced to unite against a dangerous beast there, becoming friends in the process. Dathon tried to recreate this event with Picard, hoping to forge a friendship through shared adversity. Picard recounts for Dathon the Epic of Gilgamesh, a story that parallels the allegory of Darmok and Jalad. Dathon seems to understand the story but succumbs to his injuries. The Enterprise fires on the Tamarian ship, disabling the scattering field, and beams up Picard. A battle begins, but just when mutual destruction seems certain, Picard enters the bridge and uses his newfound knowledge to communicate with the Tamarians. The Tamarians joyously perceive that Picard's eyes have been opened. Picard offers them Dathon's diary and dagger. The Tamarians tell him to keep the dagger as a gift, and record the incident as "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" — a new phrase in their language. Picard later reads the Homeric Hymns, explaining to Riker that studying their own mythology may help them relate to the Tamarians. He notes that Dathon sacrificed himself in the hope of communication, and wonders if he would have done the same. 

=====

Adam Symes has a novel to finish and, with the proceeds, plans to marry Nina Blount. Returning from France, his manuscript is impounded as obscene by customs officers, while in the next room his friend Agatha Runcible is strip searched as a suspected jewel thief. She rings the newspapers about her fate. Adam rings Nina to say he cannot now marry her, and has to negotiate a penal new contract with his publisher. Winning 1,000 pounds on a bet, Adam gives it to a drunk major to place on a horse, but the major disappears. After a fancy dress party, where he meets up with Nina and Agatha, the young people go back to the home of a quiet girl who turns out to be the Prime Minister's daughter. Agatha, who is in Hawaiian costume, is kicked out, to the delight of press photographers. The implication of orgies at 10 Downing Street causes the collapse of the government. Nina suggests that Adam asks her widowed father in the country for money to marry on. The eccentric old man comes up with a cheque for 1,000 pounds and, in celebration, Adam takes Nina to a country hotel to claim her virginity. She claims not to have enjoyed it, pointing out also to Adam that the signature on the cheque says Charlie Chaplin. The next big party in London is being held by Margot Metroland, whose private business is recruiting girls for Latin American brothels, and will feature an American lady evangelist with her choir of female angels. The party is crashed by Simon Balcairn, a friend of Adam's who is a gossip columnist, but Simon is kicked out and in despair gasses himself. Simon's job is offered to Adam, who initially devotes much of his column to the exploits of his friends but finds he can only broaden the scope by invention. A dim childhood friend of Nina is transformed in dashing man-about-town Ginger Littlejohn. Still unable to marry, Nina suggests another attempt at her father. Adam finds the old man involved in the shooting of a historical film on his estate and comes away empty-handed. While he was away, he got Nina and other friends to write his column, for which he is sacked. With friends, Adam goes to some motor races where he sees the drunk major, who says he has got Adam's winnings but then disappears. A drunk Agatha takes off in a racing car and crashes with serious injuries, from which she later dies. Nina announces that she is engaged to Ginger, to which the jobless and penniless Adam reluctantly agrees if Ginger pays him 100 pounds. The nuptial pair fly off to France for their honeymoon, but Ginger is unable to join Nina for Christmas at the house of her father, who he has not yet met. Adam steps into the breach, sharing a bedroom as Nina's husband and watching her father's maladroit film. War breaks out, in which Adam finds himself alone on a devastated battlefield in France. He comes across the drunk major, now a general, who still has his winnings and invites him to champagne in his staff car. There they find one of the evangelist's angels, back in Europe after her experiences in the South American entertainment industry. While general and angel flirt, an exhausted Adam falls asleep. 

=====

The point of divergence is the failure of the Israelite Exodus from Egypt. Moses and many of the Israelites drowned, and the remnant, led by Aaron, were fetched back to slavery in Egypt, a traumatic event recorded for posterity in the Book of Aaron, an alternate version of the Bible. Later, the Hebrews were freed from bondage and remained a distinct religious-ethnic minority in Egypt, practicing a monotheistic religion, up to the equivalent of our 20th century (the 27th century of the Roman calendar). Still, affairs of the larger world and the rise and fall of empires and cultures remained roughly the same as in our history until the division of the Roman Empire, which was never Christianised in this history. Mutual assistance between the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire against barbarian invasions preserved both from falling and kept Roman rule intact throughout the imperial dominions. Despite the absence of Christianity, which, in our history, considerably influenced early Islam, Muhammad still started his prophetic career but was assassinated by a perceptive Roman agent, nipping Islam in the bud and thus precluding the spread of any monotheistic religion through the Roman Empire. Monotheism remained limited to the specific Hebrew sect in Egypt. 

=====

A drifter, credited mononymously as "Nada", arrives in Los Angeles. While out on the street, he sees a street preacher warning that “they” have recruited the rich and powerful to control humanity. Nada takes a job on a construction site and befriends fellow construction worker Frank, who leads him to a shanty town soup kitchen and its leader, Gilbert. That night, a hacker takes over television broadcasts, claiming that scientists had discovered signals that were enslaving the population and keeping them in a dream-like state, and that the only way to stop it is to shut off the signal at its source. Those watching the broadcast complain of headaches. Nada secretly follows Gilbert and the street preacher into a nearby church, and discovers them meeting with a group that includes the hacker. He sees scientific equipment and cardboard boxes inside, and hears Gilbert worrying that the Hoffman lenses they made won’t be enough without "strong people" to help them. Nada is discovered by the blind preacher and escapes. That night, the shantytown and church are destroyed in a police raid, and the hacker and preacher are surrounded and beaten by riot police. The following day, Nada retrieves one of the boxes from the church and takes a pair of sunglasses from it, hiding the rest in a trash can. Nada discovers that the sunglasses make the world appear black and white, but also reveal subliminal messages in the media to obey, consume, reproduce, and conform. The glasses also reveal that many people are actually aliens with skull-like faces. When Nada mocks an alien woman at a supermarket, she alerts other aliens via a mysterious wristwatch. Nada leaves, but is confronted by two alien cops. He kills them and steals their weapons. Nada enters a bank, where he sees that several of the employees and customers are aliens. After taunting them with the phrase "I have come here to chew bubble gum, and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubble gum.", he then murders several aliens with a shotgun and escapes by taking Cable 54 employee Holly Thompson hostage. At Holly’s home, Nada tries to get her to try on the glasses, but she knocks him out of the window and down a hill, and then calls the police. Nada returns to the alley and retrieves the box of sunglasses from a garbage truck. Frank meets Nada to give him his paycheck. Nada tries to get Frank to put on a pair of the glasses, but Frank thinks Nada is a murderer and wants nothing to do with him to protect his family. Frank and Nada get into a long brawl, after which Frank is too tired to prevent Nada from putting the sunglasses on him. After seeing the aliens and a flying saucer, Frank agrees to go into hiding with Nada. Frank and Nada find Gilbert, who leads them to a meeting of the anti-alien movement. At the meeting, they are given contact lenses to replace the sunglasses, and learn that the aliens are using global warming to make Earth more like their own planet, and are depleting the Earth’s resources for their own gain. They also learn that the aliens have been bribing humans to become collaborators, promoting them into positions of power. Holly arrives at the meeting, apologizing to Nada, with information on the source of the signal. However, the meeting is raided by police and the vast majority of those present are killed, with the survivors (including Frank, Nada, and Holly) scattering into the night as the police surround the area. Nada and Frank are cornered by police in an alley, but they accidentally activate an alien wristwatch, opening a portal that they escape through. The portal takes them to the aliens' spaceport, where they discover a meeting of aliens and human collaborators, celebrating the elimination of the "terrorists". They are approached by a former drifter, now a collaborator, who gives them a tour of the facility. He leads them to the basement of Cable 54, the source of the signal, which is protected by armed guards. Nada and Frank find Holly and fight their way to the transmitter on the roof, but Holly kills Frank, revealing that she is a collaborator. Nada kills Holly and destroys the transmitter, but is fatally wounded by aliens in a helicopter. Nada gives the aliens the middle finger as he dies. With the transmitter destroyed, humans all over the world discover the aliens hiding among them. 

=====

The Seventh Doctor and Mel, looking for a swimming pool, land in Paradise Towers, a luxurious 22nd-century high-rise apartment building now fallen into disrepair and chaos. It is divided between roaming gangs of young girls called Kangs, grouped in colour theme; the Doctor and Mel encounter the Red Kangs. They have just discovered the death of the last Yellow Kang and are plotting how to attack the Blue Kangs. Elsewhere one of the Caretakers is hunted down and killed by a robotic cleaner, which appeals to the sadistic Chief Caretaker when he overhears the death. The Chief sends a squad of Caretakers to arrest the Red Kangs and in the ensuing confusion the Doctor is split from Mel and captured by the Caretakers. Mel meanwhile heads off to an apartment in which two elderly residents ("") live. Tilda and Tabby explain that all the able-bodied men left the Towers to fight a war, leaving behind only children and the elderly. The only other man still loose in the Towers is Pex, a would-be hero, who appoints himself Mel's guardian. At the Caretaker control centre, the Doctor meets the Chief Caretaker, who greets him as the Great Architect, designer of Paradise Towers, and then promptly calls for him to be killed. The Doctor cites an imaginary rule from the Caretakers' manual, confusing them enough to make his escape. Mel and Pex meanwhile have headed to the top of the building, and are captured by a party of Blue Kangs. Before the pair are freed the Kangs reveal to Mel that Pex survived by fleeing from the war. The Doctor finds the Great Architect is named Kroagnon, and is reunited with the Red Kangs. They explain that Kangs and Caretakers have been disappearing in ever greater numbers. While the Doctor is being interrogated, the Caretakers track him down to the Red Kang headquarters and attempt to break down the door. Elsewhere Mel has visited Tilda and Tabby again and soon finds herself under threat when it emerges they are cannibals and plan to eat her. The Doctor succeeds in holding off the Caretakers long enough for the Kangs to flee. Meanwhile, Tabby and Tilda are disturbed by a noise in the waste disposal. It turns out to be a metal claw, which drags Tabby to her death in the disposal system, and then Tilda. Pex arrives and succeeds in saving Mel. Mel and Pex find a map of the Towers and decide to venture to the roof, where the luxury swimming pool is located. The Doctor is taken to the Caretakers HQ again, where he realises that the Chief Caretaker has been allowing the Cleaners to kill people in the Towers, but this has got out of hand and the Chief Caretaker is no longer in control. The creature the Chief keeps in the basement is demanding more sustenance and making its own hunting arrangements. When the Chief heads off to investigate the deaths of Tabby and Tilda, the Red Kangs attack the HQ and rescue the Doctor. He returns with them to their base, taking with him the Illustrated Prospectus for the Tower, which they all watch. It reminds the Doctor that Kroagnon, the Great Architect of Paradise Towers, also designed Miracle City, a cutting-edge development which killed its occupants. It seems Kroagnon had an aversion to people actually populating his buildings. The Blue Kangs arrive suddenly, overpowering the Red ones, but it soon becomes clear their game is over and they must now work together. Mel and Pex finally find the swimming pool. When Mel takes a dip in the pool, she is attacked by a robotic killer crab. The Red Kangs know of the monstrosity in the basement, and guess it must be linked to the terror in the Towers. The Doctor heads off to investigate and finds the Chief has been herded by the Cleaners toward the mysterious intelligence, which turns out to be Kroagnon himself. The Doctor is soon spotted by the Cleaners too, and the robots start to attack. The Kangs rescue the Doctor in the nick of time while on the roof Pex fails to rescue Mel, who has to destroy the crab herself. When the Doctor and the Kangs arrive, the latter taunt Pex for his cowardice. The Doctor explains that Kroagnon felt human beings would ruin his creation and so placed multiple deathtraps throughout the Towers before he was killed and trapped in the machine in the basement. The remaining rezzies, led by a woman named Maddy, join them all at the swimming pool and pledge to work together with the Kangs to defeat the menace in the building. Pex pledges to help too. The Deputy Chief Caretaker and the surviving Caretakers, who have become convinced of the peril in the basement, soon join them. The Chief Caretaker has now been killed and his corpse animated by the artificial intelligence of Kroagnon. He now intends to use the Cleaners to kill everyone in the Towers and repair the damage the "filthy human parasites" have caused. However, the combined human forces are now fighting back. The Doctor and Pex devise a ruse to lure the Chief into a booby trapped room and thereby destroy Kroagnon, but when the plan goes wrong Pex sacrifices himself to drag the Chief into the trap. They are both killed, but the terror is over. After a period of reflection and Pex’s funeral, the Doctor and Mel leave, trusting the remaining Kangs, Rezzies, and Caretakers to build a better society. As the TARDIS dematerialises, a new piece of Kang graffiti is revealed – "Pex Lives". 

=====

Under the Black Guardian's instructions, Turlough sabotages the TARDIS, causing parts of it to dissolve. As the field of instability threatens to engulf Nyssa's room, a door appears behind her and the Fifth Doctor tells her to go through it. The TARDIS, to save itself, has materialised aboard a spaceship heading for an unknown destination. The Doctor and Nyssa, while exploring the ship, encounter two raiders, Kari and Olvir, who are intent on plundering the ship's cargo. When the raiders' ship abandons Kari and Olvir, it becomes apparent that the spaceship is actually a transport carrying Lazars, sufferers of a leprosy-like disease, to a space station named Terminus. The station is owned by Terminus, Inc., which claims that a cure exists there, but no-one has returned from it. Nyssa, separated from the Doctor, is infected by the disease and ushered away with the rest of the Lazars. Terminus is manned by the Vanir, guards clad in ornate radiation armor. They are slave labour, kept alive only by regular doses of a drug called "hydromel", which is supplied by the corporation. The Doctor discovers that Terminus is at the centre of the known universe and finds this information unsettling. Nyssa, meanwhile, is given over to the Garm, a giant dog-like biped, who takes her to a chamber and exposes her to radiation. The Doctor and Kari find the control room of Terminus and he realises that Terminus is also a time ship. In some unspecified past, the fuel that powered it became unstable and the now dead pilot had tried to jettison it while still in the time vortex. The tank exploded, and the outrush of energy started "Event One" – the Big Bang – and hurled Terminus billions of years into the future. There is still one tank of unstable fuel left, and the computer has begun a countdown to jettison that too. However, where the first explosion created the universe, the second will undoubtedly destroy it. Nyssa awakes to find out that she is no longer infected. The radiation cure works, but it is haphazard, with as many people dying from it as recovering. The Garm knows this, but is unable to refine it as he is controlled by the Vanir. Enlisting the Garm's help, the Doctor staves off the countdown long enough to disable the computer and cut the engine control wires. In return, the Doctor destroys the electronic control box, setting the Garm free. Nyssa strikes a bargain with the Vanir – in exchange for synthesising hydromel and freeing them from the corporation's influence, they will turn Terminus from a leper colony into a true hospital, and with the Garm's help refine the radiation cure. Deciding that her scientific skills are needed more on Terminus, Nyssa elects to stay behind, bidding her friends a tearful farewell. As Tegan and the Doctor return to the TARDIS, the Black Guardian tells Turlough that this is his last chance to kill the Doctor. 

=====

Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (Drew Barrymore), and Alex Munday (Lucy Liu) are the "Angels", three talented, tough, attractive women who work as private investigators together for an unseen millionaire named Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe). Charlie uses speakers in his offices to communicate with the Angels, and his assistant Bosley (Bill Murray) works with them directly when needed. Charlie assigns the Angels to find Eric Knox (Sam Rockwell), a software genius who created a revolutionary voice-recognition system and heads his own company, Knox Enterprises. Knox is believed to have been kidnapped by Roger Corwin (Tim Curry), who runs a communications-satellite company called Redstar. The Angels infiltrate a party held by Corwin and spot a suspicious- looking man that they had previously seen from surveillance videos of Knox's kidnapping. Dubbing him the "Thin Man" (Crispin Glover), the Angels chase him down and fight him; he gets away, but the Angels find Knox, safely held nearby. After the Angels reunite Knox with his business partner Vivian Wood (Kelly Lynch), Charlie explains that they must determine whether the Thin Man has stolen Knox's voice-recognition software. The Angels infiltrate Redstar headquarters, fool the security system, and plant a device in the central computer that will enable them to explore it remotely. They retire for the night after giving Bosley the laptop computer that communicates with the Redstar computer. Dylan takes up Knox's offer to spend the night with him, and they end up having sex. Afterwards, Knox betrays her; simultaneously, attacks are made on Natalie and Alex, Bosley is captured by Vivian, and Corwin is murdered by the Thin Man. Knox tells Dylan his kidnapping was all faked to get the Angels to help him access the Redstar satellite network. He plans to use it along with his voice recognition software to find and kill Charlie, who Knox asserts killed his father in the Vietnam War. Dylan escapes and reunites with Natalie and Alex, who survived their attacks. They approach Charlie's office just as the building explodes. They find a radio transmitter that Bosley is able to communicate through via a tooth implanted radio transmitter. Bosley provides enough information of where he's captured to allow Natalie to deduce its location, an abandoned lighthouse. With help from Dylan's boyfriend Chad (Tom Green), the Angels stealthily approach it. Upon finding Knox, Dylan is captured by his henchmen, tied up and gagged. The Angels are too late to stop Knox from determining Charlie's location, though they rescue Bosley while Dylan fights off her captors. They come together to defeat Vivian, the Thin Man, and other assorted henchmen, but Knox blows up the lighthouse and flies off in an attack helicopter towards Charlie's house. Bosley helps the Angels board it, where Alex reprograms the missile to have it shoot backwards; blowing up the helicopter and killing Knox while the Angels land safely. Seeing the opportunity to finally meet Charlie in person, they enter the nearby beach house that Knox had targeted, but Charlie has already left. He remotely congratulates the Angels on a job well done through another speaker, and treats them and Bosley to a vacation. Charlie also tells them that Knox's father was undercover; he was discovered and killed, but not by Charlie. When he speaks to the Angels by telephone on the beach, they ask if they could ever meet him in person. Dylan suspects she sees him nearby talking into a cell phone, but doesn't tell the group; opting to raise a toast to Charlie instead. Bosley playfully douses the Angels with his drink, and they chase him towards the ocean. From afar, a silhouetted Charlie watches them and walks off. 

=====

In 1931, during the Great Depression, Michael Sullivan, Sr. is an enforcer for Irish mob boss John Rooney in Rock Island, Illinois. Rooney raised the orphan Sullivan and loves him more than his own biological son, Connor. Rooney holds a wake in his home for the brother of an associate, Finn McGovern. McGovern is clearly agitated and indirectly suggests the Rooney family is responsible. Rooney sends Connor and Sullivan to meet with McGovern, under orders just to talk, but Connor shoots him, resulting in Sullivan gunning down McGovern's men. Sullivan's twelve-year-old son Michael Jr. was hidden in his father's car and witnesses the event. Sullivan swears his son to secrecy and Rooney gets his own personal assurance. Rooney pressures Connor to apologize for his reckless action. That night, Rooney sends Sullivan to collect a debt from a speakeasy owner, Tony Calvino. Connor, jealous of his father's preference for Sullivan over him and afraid Michael Jr. might talk, sends a letter with Sullivan for Calvino. When Calvino reads it, he moves to shoot Sullivan, who kills him and his bodyguard first. When Sullivan reads the letter, it says "Kill Sullivan and all your debts are paid". Fearing his family is in danger, he rushes home. Connor has gone to the Sullivan home and murders Sullivan's wife, Annie and younger son, Peter. He fails to kill Michael Jr., who received detention at school for fighting and when he returns home, hides from Connor. Sullivan and Michael Jr. flee Rock Island and head to Chicago in hopes of meeting with Al Capone for work and learning the location of Connor, who has gone into hiding. In a meeting with Frank Nitti, Sullivan offers to work for the Chicago Outfit in exchange for being allowed to kill Connor. Nitti rejects the offer, and Rooney reluctantly allows him to dispatch assassin Harlen Maguire, a voyeuristic crime scene photographer, to kill Sullivan. Maguire tracks him and his son to a roadside diner, but fails to kill Sullivan. Realizing Maguire's intentions, Sullivan escapes through the bathroom and punctures Maguire's car tire before fleeing. In reaction to the ordered hit, Sullivan begins robbing banks that hold Capone's money, hoping to trade it for Connor. Sullivan is impeded when the mob withdraws its money, so he visits Rooney's accountant Alexander Rance at his hotel. The encounter is a set-up, with Rance stalling Sullivan until Maguire enters with a shotgun. In the ensuing crossfire, Rance is killed; Maguire is injured by flying glass shards; and Sullivan escapes with Rooney's ledgers. As Sullivan flees, Maguire shoots him in his left arm. When his father collapses from his wound, Michael Jr. drives them to a farm, where a childless elderly couple help him recover. For the first time Sullivan bonds with his son. He discovers from the ledgers that Connor has been embezzling from his father for years, using the names of dead men (including McGovern). As the Sullivans depart the farm, they give the couple much of the stolen money. Sullivan confronts Rooney about his son's embezzlement while they attend Mass. Rooney, however, already knows and believes that Connor will almost certainly be killed – if not by Sullivan, then by Capone's men once Rooney is dead. He still refuses to give up his son and urges Sullivan to flee with Michael Jr. Later one night, cloaked by darkness and rain, Sullivan ambushes and kills Rooney's bodyguards with a Thompson submachine gun before walking up to Rooney, who accepts his fate and states, "I'm glad it's you," as Sullivan shoots him at point-blank range. With no further reason to protect Connor, Nitti reveals his location, after making Sullivan promise to end the feud. Sullivan goes to the hotel where Connor is hiding and kills him in the bathtub. Sullivan drives his son to stay at his Aunt Sarah's beach house in Perdition, a town on the shore of Lake Michigan. However, he is ambushed and shot by a disfigured Maguire. As Maguire photographs the dying Sullivan, Michael Jr. appears and points a gun at Maguire but cannot muster the will to fire. Sullivan pulls out his own gun and kills Maguire, showing pride in his son's inability to fire before dying in his son's arms. Mourning his father's death, Michael Jr. returns to live with the elderly farm couple. Growing up, Michael Jr. reflects that his father's only fear was that his son would become like him. Michael states he has never held a gun since the fatal encounter between Maguire and his father. When asked if Sullivan was a good or bad man, he only replies, "He was my father." 

=====

In an age of medieval fantasy populated by fantastic creatures, the Green Wizard Carolinus, who presides over nature, notices that magic is fading from the world as humanity embraces logic and science instead. Summoning his three magical brothers, he proposes combining their powers to create a "last realm of magic" hidden from the rest of the world. The Blue Wizard Solarius, who commands the heavens and seas, and the Golden Wizard Lo Tae Zhao, whose realm is light and air, agree to the proposal. However, the Red Wizard Ommadon, master of black magic and the forces of evil, resolves instead to infect mankind with fear and greed, causing humans to use their science to destroy themselves. Since the wizards are forbidden to fight among themselves, Carolinus proposes sending a group of heroes on a quest to steal Ommadon's crown, which is the source of his power. The party includes the knight Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe and Carolinus' young dragon companion Gorbash. Solarius gives them an enchanted shield which can deflect dark magic, and Lo Tae Zhao contributes a magic flute which lulls dragons to sleep. Requiring a leader, Carolinus consults the magical force of Antiquity, which directs him to look 1,000 years into the future to find a man of science descended from a legendary hero. In late 20th century Boston Carolinus locates Peter Dickinson, a former scientist turned board game designer who is obsessed with dragons. Carolinus brings Peter back through time and enlists him in the quest, and Peter becomes enamored of Carolinus' ward, Princess Melisande. Ommadon sends his dragon Bryagh to capture Peter, and an accident with one of Carolinus' spells while rescuing him causes Peter to merge with Gorbash, Peter's mind taking over the dragon's body. Knowing nothing about being a dragon, Peter is mentored by Carolinus' elder dragon companion, Smrgol. The dichotomy of magic and science is explored when Smrgol teaches Peter how dragons fly and breathe fire, abilities which Peter is able to explain with scientific principles. As the quest progresses, the heroes survive an attack by the monstrous Sand Murks and are joined by the talking wolf Aragh, the archer Danielle, and the elf Giles. As the party nears Ommadon's realm, Danielle and Sir Orrin are captured by an ogre. Peter is nearly killed attempting to rescue them but is saved by Smrgol, who defeats the ogre at the cost of his own life. In the Red Wizard's realm the party faces the Worm of Sligoff, which Peter destroys by igniting the sulfuric acid it excretes. Ommadon casts a spell to induce hopelessness in the group, which Peter repels using Solarius' shield. Ommadon next sends numerous dragons to kill the heroes, but Giles plays Lo Tae Zhao's enchanted flute, lulling them and Peter to sleep. Bryagh remains awake and kills Giles, Aragh, and Danielle. Sir Orrin slays Bryagh, but dies from his wounds. When Ommadon appears on the battlefield, Peter manages to separate himself from Gorbash by recalling the principle of impenetrability. He is able to defeat Ommadon by countering the wizard's declarations of magic with explanations of science and logic, and denying the existence of magic. This destroys Ommadon, restores the other heroes to life, and allows the magical realm to take shape. Peter, having denied all magic, is separated forever from this realm, but not before awakening Melisande with a kiss and leaving her Ommadon's crown. Having fallen in love with Peter, Melisande begs Carolinus to allow her to join him. Back in 20th century Boston, Peter is selling the magic flute and shield to a pawnbroker when Melisande enters the shop carrying the crown, and the two embrace. 

=====

Tobal No. 1 takes place in the year 2048 on a fictional planet called Tobal, which has large deposits of Molmoran, an ore that can be used as an energy source. The planet's 98th tournament is held to determine who has the rights to the ore. A number of humans and aliens compete for the title. The game's plot and character backstories are only explored in the instruction manual. All of the initial eight playable characters receive the same ending. The game's immediately playable characters include Chuji Wu, Oliems, Epon, Hom, Fei Pusu, Mary Ivonskaya, Ill Goga, and Gren Kutz. Bosses include Nork, Mufu, and the emperor Udan. All bosses are unlockable after defeating them in Dungeon Mode except Nork. Instead, the game allows the player to select Snork (Small Nork), a pint-sized version of the very large character. There is also one secret fighter named Toriyama Robo (named for Akira Toriyama) who is unlockable if the player can complete the 30-floor Udan's Dungeon level in the quest mode. Toriyama Robo is not seen at any point in the game except at the very end of the dungeon. 

=====

In September 1969, two unemployed actors, flamboyant alcoholic Withnail and contemplative Marwood, live in a messy flat in Camden Town, London. Their only regular visitor is the drug dealer, Danny. One morning, the pair squabble about housekeeping and then leave to take a walk. In Regent's Park, they discuss the poor state of their acting careers and the desire for a holiday; they propose a trip to a rural cottage near Penrith owned by Withnail's wealthy uncle Monty. They visit Monty that evening at his luxurious Chelsea house. Monty is a melodramatic aesthete, who Marwood infers is homosexual; the three briefly drink together as Withnail casually lies to Monty about his acting career and claims that grammar school- educated Marwood studied at Eton. Withnail persuades his uncle to lend them the cottage key and they leave. Withnail and Marwood drive to the cottage the next day but find the weather cold and wet, the cottage without food, running water or power and the locals unwelcoming – in particular a poacher, Jake, whom Withnail offends in the pub. Marwood is anxious when he later sees Jake prowling around the cottage and suggests they leave for London the next day. Withnail in turn demands that they share a bed in the interest of safety but Marwood refuses. During the night, Withnail becomes paranoid that the poacher wants to harm them and climbs under the covers with Marwood, who angrily leaves for a different bed. Hearing the sounds of an intruder breaking into the cottage, Withnail again joins Marwood in bed. The intruder turns out to be Monty, who has brought supplies. The next day, Marwood realises Monty's visit has ulterior motives when he makes aggressive sexual advances on him; Withnail seems oblivious to this. Monty drives them into town to buy wellington boots but they nip to the pub instead. Monty is hurt, though he puts it out of his mind quickly during a boozy round of poker. Marwood is terrified of what Monty might try to do and wants to leave immediately but after much argument Withnail insists on staying. Late in the night, Marwood tries to avoid Monty's company but is eventually cornered in the guest bedroom as Monty insistently demands they have sex. Monty reveals that Withnail, during the visit in London, claimed that Marwood was a closet homosexual. Marwood lies that Withnail is the closeted one and that the two of them are in a committed relationship, which Withnail wishes to keep secret from his family and that this is the first night that they have not slept together in years. Monty, a romantic, believes this explanation and leaves after apologising for coming between them. In private, Marwood furiously confronts Withnail. The next morning, they find Monty has left for London, leaving a note wishing them happiness together. They continue to argue about their behaviour and Monty. A telegram arrives from Marwood's agent with a possible offer of work and he insists they return. As Marwood sleeps, Withnail drunkenly speeds most of the way back until pulled over by the police, who arrest and fine him for driving under the influence. The pair return to the flat to find Danny and a friend named Presuming Ed squatting. Marwood calls his agent and discovers that he is wanted for the lead part in a play but will need to move to Manchester to take it. The four get high smoking a huge cannabis joint but the celebration ends when Marwood learns they have received an eviction notice for unpaid rent, while Withnail is too high to care. Marwood packs a bag and leaves for the railway station, turning down Withnail's request for a goodbye drink. In Regent's Park, Marwood confesses that he will miss Withnail but insists that they part ways there. Bottle of wine in hand, Withnail performs "What a piece of work is a man!" from Hamlet, seen only by the wolves in a nearby zoo enclosure, then walks home alone in the rain. 

=====

In Paris 1910, mother cat Duchess and her three kittens, Berlioz, Marie, and Toulouse, live with retired opera diva Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, and her English butler, Edgar. One day while preparing her will with lawyer Georges Hautecourt, Madame declares that her fortune will be left to her cats until their deaths, and thereafter to Edgar. Edgar hears this through a speaking tube and plots to eliminate the cats. He later sedates them by putting sleeping pills in a milk mixture intended for them, and drives them to the countryside to abandon them. There, he is ambushed by two hounds named Napoleon and Lafayette, losing his hat and umbrella, and the cats are stranded in the countryside, while Madame Adelaide, Roquefort the mouse and Frou-Frou the horse discover their absence. In the morning, Duchess meets an alley cat named Thomas O'Malley, who offers to guide her and the kittens to Paris. The group briefly hitchhikes in a milk truck before being chased out by the driver. Later, while crossing a railroad trestle, the cats narrowly avoid an oncoming train, but Marie falls into a river and is saved by O'Malley, who in turn has to be rescued by two English geese, Amelia and Abigail Gabble, who accompany the cats to Paris. Meanwhile, Edgar returns to the country to retrieve his possessions from Napoleon and Lafayette, after realising that they are the only evidence that could incriminate him. Travelling across the rooftops of the city, the cats meet O'Malley's friend Scat Cat and his musicians, who perform the song "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat". After the band has departed, O'Malley and Duchess converse on a nearby rooftop while the kittens listen at a windowsill, and Duchess' loyalty to Madame prompts her to decline O'Malley's marriage proposal. The next day, Duchess and the kittens return to Madame's mansion, but Edgar finds them before she does, places them in a sack and prepares to ship them to Timbuktu. Roquefort catches up with O'Malley at the cats’ instruction, and O'Malley returns to the mansion, sending Roquefort to find Scat Cat and his gang; while he struggles to explain why he was sent to find them, Roquefort successfully brings them to the mansion. The alley cats and Frou-Frou fight Edgar, while Roquefort frees Duchess and the kittens. At the end of the fight, Edgar is locked in his own packing-case and sent to Timbuktu himself, never to be seen again. The cats return to Madame Adelaide, whose will is rewritten to exclude Edgar, with Madame remaining ignorant of the reason for his departure. After adopting O’Malley into the family, Madame establishes a charity foundation housing Paris' stray cats (represented by Scat Cat and his band, who reprise their song). 

=====

The short story takes place in a land ruled by a semi-barbaric king. Some of the king's ideas are progressive, but others cause people to suffer. One of the king's innovations is the use of a public trial by ordeal as an agent of poetic justice, with guilt or innocence decided by the result of chance. A person accused of a crime is brought into a public arena and must choose one of two doors.VOA Learning English video Behind one door is a lady whom the king has deemed an appropriate match for the accused; behind the other is a fierce, hungry tiger. Both doors are heavily soundproofed to prevent the accused from hearing what is behind each one. If he chooses the door with the lady behind it, he is innocent and must immediately marry her, but if he chooses the door with the tiger behind it, he is deemed guilty and is immediately devoured by it. The king learns that his daughter has a lover, a handsome and brave youth who is of lower status than the princess, and has him imprisoned to await trial. By the time that day comes, the princess has used her influence to learn the positions of the lady and the tiger behind the two doors. She has also discovered that the lady is someone whom she hates, thinking her to be a rival for the affections of the accused. When he looks to the princess for help, she discreetly indicates the door on his right, which he opens. The outcome of this choice is not revealed. Instead, the narrator departs from the story to summarize the princess's state of mind and her thoughts about directing the accused to one fate or the other, as she will lose him to either death or marriage. She contemplates the pros and cons of each option, though notably considering the lady more. "And so I leave it with all of you: Which came out of the opened door – the lady, or the tiger?" 

=====

At the beginning of this story, it is made quite clear that Dorothy Gale (the primary protagonist of many of the previous Oz books), is in the habit of freely speaking of her many adventures in the Land of Oz to her only living relatives, her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Neither of them believes a word of her stories, but consider her a dreamer, as her dead mother had been. She is undeterred. Later, it is revealed that the destruction of their farmhouse by the tornado back in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has left Uncle Henry in terrible debt. In order to pay it, he has taken out a mortgage on his farm. If he cannot repay his creditors, they will seize the farm, thus leaving Henry and his family homeless. He is not too afraid for himself, but both he and his wife, Aunt Em, fear very much for their niece's future. Upon learning this, Dorothy quickly arranges with Princess Ozma to let her bring her guardians to Oz where they will be very happier and forever safe. Using the Magic Belt (a tool captured from the jealous Nome King Roquat), Ozma transports them to her throne room. They are given rooms to live in and luxuries to enjoy, including a vast and complex wardrobe, and meet with many of Dorothy's old friends, including the Cowardly Lion and Billina the Yellow Hen. In the underground Nome Kingdom, the Nome King Roquat is plotting to conquer the Land of Oz and recover his magic belt, which Dorothy took from him in Ozma of Oz. After ordering the expulsion of his General (who will not agree to such an attack) and the death of his Colonel (who also refuses), King Roquat holds counsel with a veteran soldier called Guph. Guph believes that against the many magicians of Oz (the reputation of which has grown in the telling), the Nome Army has no chance alone. He therefore sets out personally to recruit allies. Dorothy, accompanied by the Wizard of Oz and several other friends, departs the Emerald City in a carriage drawn by the Wooden Sawhorse, intending to give her aunt and uncle a tour of the land. Many of the people encountered have never been seen in other books: * The living cut-out paper dolls created by an immortal called Miss Cuttenclip. * The anthropomorphic jigsaw puzzles known as the Fuddles. * The loquacious Rigmaroles. * The paranoid Flutterbudgets. * The living kitchen utensils of Utensia. * The anthropomorphic pastries of Bunbury. * The civilized rabbits of Bunnybury. * A zebra who holds geographical disputes with a soft-shell crab. Other figures, more familiar to readers of previous books, include the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, as well as the four tribes of Oz (the Munchkins, the Quadlings, the Gillikins, and the Winkies). The Nome General Guph visits three nations: the Whimsies, the Growleywogs, and the Phanfasms: * The Whimsies are a large and hulking race, but possess disproportionately small heads the size of doorknobs. This causes other species to call them stupid, stripping them of any self-esteem. To deny this, the Whimsies wear enormous, luridly designed masks that cover all of their heads. Their Chief agrees to the deal and sends Guph on his way. The Chief of the Whimsies hopes that when the Nome King reclaims his Magic Belt, he can use its magic to make their heads the size of the masks they wear. * The Growleywogs are muscular giants, possessing no surplus flesh and no mercy. They are arrogant and cruel. Their Grand Gallipoot agrees to the deal in exchange that they grant them 20,000 slaves from the Land of Oz. As such, they are eager not only to help the Nomes conquer Oz, but also to secretly subjugate the Nomes as well. Of the latter plan, they say nothing and send Guph on his way. * Last of his meetings is that which is with the mysterious, diabolical Phanfasms of Phantastico. To Guph, the Phanfasms resemble hairy men, but having the heads of various carnivorous mammals, birds, and reptiles. Their true forms, number, standard of living, culture, and extent of influence remain unknown to both Guph and the reader, although both receive hints in the narrative. The first Phanfasm that Guph encountered was one with the head of an owl after getting passed the scarlet alligator on the bridge. Their bear- headed leader called the First and Foremost agrees to the deal so that they can make people unhappy. The Phanfasms tell him that they will conquer Oz alongside the other armies, but they have a secret plan to turn traitor and dominate their allies. Of the latter plan, they say nothing and send Guph on his way. Having learned of this through Ozma's omniscient Magic Picture, the people of Oz become worried. As the Nomes dig a tunnel for the combined armies to get under the Deadly Desert to the heart of the Emerald City, Ozma uses her Magic Belt to wish for a large amount of dust to appear in the tunnel. Upon emerging, the Nome King's allies therefore drink thirstily from the nearby Fountain of Oblivion, whose waters make them forget their evil plans. The Nome King himself avoids the drink, but is thrown into the fountain by the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, which erases his memory too. Ozma uses the magic belt to send the Nome King and his allies home. To forestall a future invasion of Oz, Glinda the Good Witch uses a magic charm to render Oz invisible and unreachable to everyone except those within the land itself. 

=====

A corporation has discovered oil under the streets of Paris, directly under a bistro. The Countess Aurelia (known as The Madwoman of Chaillot) lives in the bistro's basement, driven mad because of a lost lover and reminiscing about her past. When the corporation decides to blow up the bistro to get the oil, a young executive, Julian, helps to foil the plan because he has fallen in love with Nina, the bistro's waitress. Aurelia lures the corporation executives to the underground in the sewer system. 

=====

Corporal Matthew Kane prepares to take out the Strogg Nexus with his Rail Gun The Quake 4 single player mode continues the story of Quake II by pitting the player against cyborg alien race known as the Strogg. The game follows the story of a Marine Corporal named Matthew Kane who is joining the elite Rhino Squad.Quake 4 Designer Diary No. 1 – The Characters of Quake 4 GameSpot, July 29, 2005 Following the success of the protagonist of Quake II in destroying the Strogg's leader, the Makron, Rhino Squad is tasked with spearheading the mission to secure the aliens' home planet Stroggos. In the course of the invasion, the squad ship is shot down and crashes in the middle of a battle zone, separating Kane from his companions. Kane rejoins his scattered team members and partakes in the assault against the Strogg. After performing a number of tasks, such as destroying and capturing Strogg aircraft hangars and defense systems, Kane and his remaining squad members make it to the USS Hannibal. There they are given their next mission: infiltrating one of the Strogg's central communication hubs, the Tetranode, with an electromagnetic pulse bomb in the hope that it will put the main Strogg Nexus in disarray. Kane is tasked with defending the mission convoy, which takes heavy casualties. After many setbacks, including the destruction of the EMP device by a Strogg ambush, Kane is left to complete the mission, assisted only by Private Johann Strauss (Peter Stormare) and Lance Corporal Nikolai "Sledge" Slidjonovitch (Dimitri Diatchenko). Strauss figures out a way to destroy the core by shutting down its coolant systems. As Kane reaches the entrance to the Tetranode, however, he is greeted by two rocket-equipped network guardians, as well as the newly constructed Makron, which easily defeats Kane and knocks him unconscious. When Kane awakens, he finds himself strapped to a conveyor belt in the Strogg "Medical Facilities", a structure used for turning those captured and killed by the aliens either into protein food or additional Strogg units. In a long and gruesome first- person cutscene, Kane is taken through this "stroggification" process which violently replaces much of his anatomy with bio-mechanical parts. Before the final controlling neurochip implanted in his brain can be activated, though, Rhino Squad bursts into the facility and rescues Kane. After escaping through the Strogg medical facility and Waste Disposal plant, fighting off zombie-like half-stroggified humans along the way, Kane is forced to combat his former commander, Lieutenant Voss (Michael Gannon), who has been fully stroggified into a powerful mechanized monster but retains his own consciousness long enough to warn Kane. After defeating this threat, Kane and the remaining marines finally make it back to the Hannibal. The commanders realize that Kane's Strogg physiology has opened up new possibilities for defeating the Strogg, as he can be used to infiltrate locations and teleportation areas previously impenetrable and/or fatally harmful to human forces. The new plan is to directly target the Strogg Nexus Core, a huge centralized brain-like structure which controls the alien forces. The Marines are tasked with infiltrating the three data towers adjacent to the Nexus: Data Storage, Processing, and Networking. There, they will deactivate the Nexus' shield and power up the teleporter used to access the Nexus and send Kane in. Once inside, Kane will travel to the center of the Nexus to destroy the Core Brain and its guardian. After infiltrating the facility and realigning the data nodes powering the teleporter, and destroying its fearsome "Guardian" creature, Kane reaches the Nexus core. There he meets the Makron in a final showdown and kills it. This accomplished, he destroys the Core and returns to the Hannibal. Celebrating with Rhino Squad afterward, Kane receives word that he has new orders. 

=====

